Getting Better
by insipidity
Summary: Also posted on AO3 under Pplwkp. Hartley angsts over his poor decisions and decides he needs a new direction for his life. Eventual Hartmon. Mentions of H/H.
1. Chapter 1

Hartley checked into a hotel. He had run by his tiny studio apartment and gotten the few belongings he had. Clothes, his research notes on a USB drive and the contents of his external hard drive. And of course, his laptop. He didn't want to risk being found out by Team Flash. And a hotel room gave him just the air of anonymity he required.

He undressed and stepped into the shower. As the hot water poured from the shower head, he leaned forward and rested his forehead and arms against the gray tiles on the wall. He let the water wash over him.

He had failed in his attempt to exact vengeance on Harrison. _Harrison_. The memory of a time when he had such hopes of one day becoming, well, _his_, made him fume. How could he have been so stupid. His mentor had played right into his vanity. His pride. He had only ever wanted him to build the particle accelerator. He had known it would explode. Or had planned it to explode. Either way, the minute the accelerator had become ready, he could see it in Harrison's eyes. He hadn't understood it then, but he had seen it. The suddenly cold look, that let him know that their partnership had come to an end. He had wondered if he had done something wrong. Harrison firing him had been just the icing on the cake, the confirmation of everything he had been suspecting for a while.

He turned off the water flow, and covered himself with the soft hotel towel. He wiped the moistness from his forehead, and stepped back to the room. He had been, if not good, then a decent person once. One who didn't kill people. His hatred for Wells had overcome his basic nature. He had hurt a lot of people. Even people he knew. As he had been informed during his short-lived return to his cell, Cisco had received a concussion as payment for running to Hartley's cell as he had been trying to escape. It hadn't been his intention. But as he stepped out of the cell, and saw Cisco past out on the floor amongst the rubble, he had simply smiled. He had heard his erratic heartbeat, but he hadn't cared. He just walked away.

Similarly just half an hour ago, he had hurt Cisco again. Means to an end, of course. He couldn't go back to Star Labs when they still believed Harrison Wells was a good person. He was sure Harrison would stage an unfortunate accident which would lead to his demise in the hands of another one of their detainees.

Still. As his deeply religious republican family had taught him, _thou shalt not kill_. And injuring people would probably also be implied on that list. He had never been much of a catholic. But it had made his parents happy when he pretended to be one, so he had played along. Until he discovered that there were qualities about him that would never sit well with his parents. That was the thing about him. He had known that it had been a bad idea to come out to his parents. But the man he had been dating at the time convinced him that it would be okay. Fast forward a few years, his parents had disowned him and he could barely remember his ex's name. That was when Harrison Wells had made his way into his life. He had known how to play him from the start. He used his expressions to indicate intimacy and care for him. He never outright said he was interested, but he knew how to give him hope. And Hartley, overjoyed to finally find a mind to match his own, had taken all his words to heart, in the hopes of finally having a new family.

What a sucker he had been.

The next day, he woke up. He took of his night implants and replaced them with his regular ones. Before he had designed the night implants, it had been impossible for him to sleep with people talking and moving in the rooms that neighbored his apartment. He had made special versions of them for day use, which were the ones he had used to break out of Star Labs.

He had dreamt of his parents. In the dream he was coming out to his parents, about being gay as well as being the "Pied Piper". They disapproved of his turn to the dark side, but were still more okay with it than him being gay. His ex had been replaced by some other guy with long dark hair. The dream ended just as the other man had been about to turn around.

He got up and put on a shirt. He went through his closet for a while to find the pants that went with the shirt. He opened his laptop. As he had pondered last night, he needed to become a decent person again. But how? When all he wanted to do was make Harrison pay with every inch of his being. Usually he knew exactly what to do. But this was a case of wanting to change himself for the better, and he needed some advice. Since he had tried to kill or hurt everyone he knew, he had to turn for outside help, aka the Internet. He knew it was beneath him, but what choice did he have? Go to church and ask a priest to help him get over his obsession with Harrison? No.

He searched for an ask page and typed in his problem, changing of course the actual events and the details of the situation. Basically he was asking the Internet how to stop wanting to hurt his evil ex and others because of him. He clicked "ok" and posted the question.

As he waited for replies, he decided to go have breakfast in the hotel's dining area. To avoid being seen, he gathered the foods he wanted to a plate and took it up to his room. He could have ordered room service, of course, but he liked the short walk he did on his way up and down the stairs.

As he made his way back to his room, he set the plate on the table and refreshed the page that he had left open on his laptop. 15 replies. He scrolled down the page.

"Girl, nobody's worth going to jail for. Get over him sweetie. He didn't deserve you anyway."

"I n0 many girls like you, and w/ time, I'm sure u'll have the strength to get over 'im, but inda mean time u need like tehrapy!"

"Get over it. Period."

"You need to get a life. Seriously. Your ex sucks, but if you hurt other people to get back at him, it's you who sucks."

"This is why we need feminism, a woman feels so worthless after losing a guy that her life is over."

"We don't need feminism, we need less women like this complaining about how a man is to blame for all her problems."

He read the last comments but they were no longer about advice to him and more about feminism and its need or needlessness. He was irked by the second commenter thinking that _therapy_ was spelled t-e-h-r-a-p-y. Not that that was the only thing wrong about that comment. Apparently all the commenters had thought he had been a teenage girl. Which was fine. Whatever to not alert the Star Labs team to his trail. Not that they were probably looking at ask pages destined for young female audiences, apparently. The condescending tone of the comments infuriated him, but reading them again and again, he had to admit that most of them hit home. In the grand scheme of things, Wells was evil, no doubt, but he was clearly too powerful for Hartley to beat. At least for now. But personally? If anybody had looked at his life, they probably would've said "get over it" too. He had always been the one seeing the small things that made people tick. For the situation be the reverse, as it was now? Unacceptable.

He needed to focus on building his own life back up again. He chuckled, as he knew he was sounding like a life time movie or something as cheesy. Probably something Cisquito liked. He smiled. Finally he knew exactly what to do. It felt good to know that.


	2. Chapter 2

Cisco walked slowly and quietly towards Star Labs. He watched his step, in an effort not to make too much sound. He dragged his feet to delay the inevitable: telling the team that Hartley had escaped.

For some reason, Cisco always found himself in a situation where he had done something wrong and felt guilty over it. Just like when he had built the ice gun. He always had the best intentions, but one way or another, he always ended up screwing up. Either he trusted someone too much, or not enough. And in Hartley's case, it had been a bit of both. He had trusted Hartley to try to escape, and had designed a device specifically for that purpose. He had also trusted him enough to lure him to the police station, knowing full well he couldn't trust him. His "surprise attack" had been a totally expected one, and Cisco should've been ready for it, just like he had been outside Star Labs. He could've asked anybody to come with him. He could've gotten Barry to come with him. Or Caitlin could've held the device he had built while he looked at the footage Hartley had pointed him toward. Hell, he could've asked Joe to look after Hartley while he looked at the video. They were at the police station after all.

Cisco had told himself that it was a safety issue. Hartley was dangerous, and had hurt him, Barry and Caitlin, and if a powered person like Barry couldn't fight a person such as Hartley, he couldn't risk his friends getting more hurt because of his need to find out what had happened to Ronnie. After all it had been Wells who had stopped Hartley in the end, not Barry.

Then why hadn't Cisco asked Wells to help him? Well...He had noticed a certain ruthlessness about the man of late. He had become...different, after they had started working with Barry. Sometimes he talked to Cisco in a down right sinister tone. In those moments Cisco had always felt he had been justified in his reaction since Cisco had usually screwed up when those moments occurred. After all, it happened to Cisco quite a lot. But lately? They had started to bother him. So he had decided against asking Wells for help.

These were all very rational and logical reasons as to why Cisco had gone alone with Hartley. They were almost convincing enough for him to believe in them himself. Still. The real reason was the simple fact that Hartley had always been his responsibility. A responsibility he hated, nay, _despised_, but one that was his.

Back when Star Labs was still functioning as a real research facility, and the place was filled with people other than their current small team, Hartley had had everyone pegged. It had been uncanny how he could spend maybe five minutes with someone, and in the span of that time come up with a fairly accurate picture of the other person, what they were good at, what they wanted and the reason they couldn't get what they wanted. Had he wanted to, he could've used this ability to form quick friendships and other relationships with people. But no. He mostly used it to tell people off if they were, in his high esteemed opinion, doing work that was less than satisfactory. Fortunately for most people at the lab, he was usually so disinterested in them that he usually didn't bother talking to them unless it was absolutely necessary. This was not the case with Cisco. Immediately after Cisco had been hired, Hartley had taken a special interest in him, and not in a good way. Every praise he received from doctor Wells, Cisco knew he would have to pay for it later. Which was often, since Cisco was excellent at his job. They were usually paired together for projects, but even when they weren't working together, Hartley sought him out and knew just what to say to piss him off.

Some sadistic part of Cisco thought there were times his comments were actually helpful. Him questioning everything from Cisco's appearance to his methodology kept Cisco striving to be ever better. He was already brilliant, but going head to toe with Hartley kept him moving forward. There were some things he wasn't willing to change though: he kept his appearance. That was who he was. After one instance when Hartley made a particularly crude remark about his hair, he stopped wearing it on a ponytail and instead let it flow freely, framing his face. He received many compliments for the change and Caitlin especially commented on how he looked way better like that. As she was saying that, Ronnie came over to ruffle Cisco's hair before kissing Caitlin. As he watched Ronnie and the lovebirds, Cisco's lips instinctively curved to form a smile. Then Hartley suddenly walked past them, behind Ronnie and Caitlin so they didn't see him. He raised his left eyebrow and winked at Cisco. As he did that, suddenly Cisco realized what he must've looked like: he was grinning as if over the moon in love.

If he were the type to blush, this would've been a good moment for that. But as he wasn't, he simply turned into a piping hot mess. He turned around so nobody would see his face and excused himself, leaving the couple behind him. Fortunately Hartley had gone to the other direction. When he reached his desk, he sat down and buried his face in his arms. Hartley _knew_. This was just too mortifying.

He sighed. It had begun as a small attraction to Caitlin. Maybe a small crush. But as he got to know both Caitlin and Ronnie better, Caitlin made it plain that she flourished in the presence of Ronnie, and the shine that Cisco had initially thought came from Caitlin herself, was actually coming from Ronnie. She was so in love with him. She cherished and adored him, and it was so adorable to see her light up with him, that Cisco soon gave up all hopes of winning her heart. He bore no ill will towards Ronnie, in fact quite the opposite. Ronnie was so open and loving, Cisco found himself enjoying his company more and more. Sometimes he would make up funny designs just to make Ronnie smile. And he smiled. Readily and often. Even Hartley could find no fault with him, other than an occasional belated report that Ronnie would file the next morning after due date. And he loved Caitlin with his very essence. Sometimes Cisco wondered if he was in love with Ronnie, or was he in love with how in love they were as a couple. It didn't matter, he supposed. He would never tell them about his feelings. As for Hartley...nobody would believe him, even if he told anyone about it. And what would he say, anyway? That he saw a _look_? As far as Cisco knew, he was the only one in the know of Hartley's talent for reading people. Who'd believe Hartley's accusation?

As he backtracked to his original thought process, he repeated it in his head: Hartley was his responsibility. The other people at the lab had mostly ignored Hartley. From the start, it had been Cisco up against the man. And now, or rather a few days before, it was from him that Hartley had escaped. And yesterday it had happened again. Yes. The reason he'd gone alone with Hartley had been the fact that the man was his responsibility. But the real reason he had let him out of his cell at all was because Cisco needed to know what had happened to his old crush. For his own sake, and Caitlin's.

Cisco arrived at Star Labs. It was early in the morning, so maybe if he hid long enough, he could get a chance to explain what he had done to all three of them at the same time. Telling just one of them would be awful. Especially-

"Good morning, Cisco", he heard a terrifyingly calm voice behind him. He spun around and saw doctor Wells wheeling towards him. Cisco's heart sank. This was the last thing he wanted. Even Caitlin would've been a better option. Somehow. Actually, he'd been hoping the first one he had to tell would've been Barry. He would get mad, but at least his outburst would be easier to take than Caitlin's disappointed silence or the indescribable expression on Wells' face.

"Hey there", Cisco greeted in return, doing his best not to seem suspicious.

"_Hey there_?" Wells replied, looking incredulous, showing that Cisco's "best" effort had been for naught.

"I..." Cisco started. "Hartley...is gone." Cisco was afraid to speak, but he knew he had to tell him. Them.

Wells raised his eyebrow. He opened his mouth. Cisco rushed to speak first. "I let him out."

Wells sighed. He leaned back in his wheelchair. He looked tired. He raised his right hand to rub his forehead. For a while there Cisco couldn't make out his expression. He almost looked...scared? But as he laid his hand back down on his lap, his expression changed and he assumed a stern and disapproving scowl, which seemed more appropriate considering the situation. Someone who wouldn't have known him very well might have thought he had imagined that fear he had seen. But Cisco had a knack for noticing things that other people might not have.

He was about to speak, but just then Barry and Caitlin arrived to the lab. They greeted them.

"Cisco - has something he needs to tell you", Wells stated.

"Hartley's gone", Cisco mustered again. "I let him out", he said.

They reacted exactly like he'd expected."Why, what were you thinking? You know how dangerous he is!" Barry yelled at him. Caitlin on the other hand was less vocal and instead stared at him behind her sun glasses. As she seemed to be having a hangover, her already sour mood perhaps sharpened her voice. Liquor was not her friend.

_I didn't think_, Cisco wanted to reply. _I had to know_. "Hartley said he knew what happened to Ronnie."

Caitlin sighed. "I told you to to let it go I didn't want you looking into that for me."

"I wasn't doing it for you, I-I sealed Ronnie into the accelerator before it blew", Cisco started. He struggled a bit but finally, a year later, the words started coming to him. He told her all about the night Ronnie had died. His guilt. What he had done.

When he finished, Caitlin walked over to him. She hugged him and told him he'd done the right thing. And that Ronnie would think so too.

As she held him in her arms, Cisco felt for the first time in a long time that he was ready to forgive himself. For falling for Caitlin. For falling for her boyfriend. For sealing Ronnie in. For Hartley.


	3. Chapter 3

Hartley knew that in order to become a better person, he was going to have to face a lot of humiliation. He had discovered this by reading up on self help books, which in itself had been embarrassing enough. Although apparently his world view would also have to be changed. According to some of his findings, he shouldn't find being wrong embarrassing. Which to him simply sounded ludicrous. His worth as a human being depended on him being right about everything. What would be left of him if he stopped being right?

After dismissing self help books, he started reading papers he was more comfortable with, meaning academic papers on mental problems and their treatment. Even though there was some dispute about what was the best treatment for a person in his situation, he eventually came to the conclusion that he would need to seek professional help. Even if it wouldn't help him in his new plan of becoming a better person, it would be something to show other people. Something along the lines of _look, I'm trying_. Not that he cared about other people. Or what they thought of him. But as he read more and more books on how to be a good person, scientific and non-scientific alike, the consensus seemed to be that he should care about people. Maybe not all of them. But at the very least, he should find a few people whom he cared about. A minimum of one friend and one lover. _That would suffice_, he figured. A lover would be easy to acquire, after all, he had never had trouble getting a man to sleep with him. But his liaisons never lasted very long. He usually slept with people for fun. It didn't matter too much to him whether the person he slept with today was the same one he had slept with the night before. He wasn't too convinced that monogamy was the best alternative out there, but he was ready to admit that developing feelings for the person he was sleeping with might just be an experience worth exploring, given he hadn't had that in a while. His obsession with Harrison had kept him from forming an attachment to his flings.

He sighed. But he would be unable to do any of his planned social experiments until he stopped thinking about Harrison every two minutes. So he needed to get himself a psychiatrist.

After making a few appointments with available psychiatrists, he went to see them. One of them was openly homophobic and told him that all his problems stemmed from his chosen _sexuality_, and his violent outbreaks were related to his orientation. He left after 10 minutes of conversation and reported the person to the union. The next one seemed a little more promising, but he seemed adamantly convinced that Hartley was a victim in all this. Hartley couldn't, of course, tell them exactly what he had done because they would've had to call the police on him if he did, but he told them enough to make it clear he had screwed up big time. He met a few more psychiatrists who were pretty alright but not quite a match, more into being "uh huh. How does that make you feel?" Then he met a psychiatrist who was a small old Chinese woman. She first listened to him talk for 30 minutes, and then, quite eloquently, told him how big of an ass he had been. She kind of reminded him of that movie Cisco had once forced the whole Star Labs team to watch. It had been an animated movie about a family of superheroes. The Chinese woman reminded him of the short woman in the film that designed the superhero family's costumes. Who, now that he thought about it, was kind of like Cisco. During his short stint in the Star Labs cells, he had managed to get Cisco to admit he had designed Barry's suit. She told him that he was probably suffering from psychosis caused by the trauma of the explosion and Harrison throwing him out before the explosion. It didn't cause his violent behavior, though. That had been his own fault. But the condition was treatable. She wrote him a prescription for a medication that would help him in his effort to get over his obsession of blaming Harrison for his situation. Harrison was to blame, sure, but Hartley needed to stop living with Harrison occupying his thoughts all the time. She told him to start seeing her twice a week to begin with. She added him to her schedule and told him to come back in two days. Then she told him to go.

Hartley outweighed the pros and cons of taking the medication. He wasn't enthusiastic about clouding his mind with a substance he had no way of knowing would work, but then again, Harrison was clouding his mind as it was, so anything was better than that. He read reviews online about the side effects the other people who had taken the drug had experienced, and they seemed to be fairly minor. His dose was very low. After a thorough research through all means available to him, he ultimately decided to give it a go.

The effect wasn't immediate. Talking to the psychiatrist helped more. Slowly, he began to see the world as he had used to see it before the illness. But it took time. A lot of time. There were days when he backtracked and it seemed as if all the progress he had made had been all for naught. He needed to hear his psychiatrist remind him that normal people didn't design lethal weapons and try to kill their ex with it. Of course, Cisco did design potentially lethal weapons, as he had seen outside Star Labs. He was probably capable of designing even deadlier weapons. But he probably didn't try to kill his exes with it. If he had any exes. _Hm_. Cisco had spent most of his time with Caitlin and Ronnie, as far as Hartley had observed. And with him, now that he thought of it. But if Cisco had been interested in someone, it had probably been one of the other two. He wasn't sure which one. But as those two had been disgustingly in love with each other, Cisco probably hadn't gotten anywhere with either one.

Now that he thought of it, out of the people he knew, Cisco would probably be his best pick for a friend. The psychiatrist had told him to get a friend, and preferably one that he already knew. Someone who would have a positive effect on him. Harrison was evil and the cause of his mental problems. Caitlin was too close to Harrison, and even back when they worked together, they had mostly just ignored each other. Barry was a superhero, so he'd probably be a good influence on him, but he didn't even know Barry, and he _had_ tried to murder him, so there was that. Well, he had also left Cisco for dead, and injured him many times, but somehow he still seemed the best option. He was a good person. And aside from..._his previous employer_, he had spent the most time with Cisco. Not that Cisco had probably enjoyed that time.

The next time he saw his psychiatrist, he told her about his thoughts on Cisco.

"You told me to get a friend who'd be a positive influence. I thought of him. But he probably wouldn't want to be friends with me."

"Because you made his life miserable?"

"I like to think of it as giving him incentives to improve himself", Hartley suggested.

The psychiatrist didn't dignify that with a reply. "What does a typical dialog between you and another person sound like?"

Hartley described how he corrected the other person's appearance, grammar, work, posture and some other features.

"The fact that nobody has murdered you as of yet astounds me." She adjusted her glasses, and continued: "I'm giving you homework. Go talk to one person who doesn't want to kill you and try to be less like yourself. If you feel like correcting them or criticizing them, just be quiet."

"But-"

"Sshh", she shushed him.

So, Hartley found himself at the police station. There was one person out there who didn't want to kill him and whom he knew rather well. He wondered why he hadn't thought of him before. Probably because they hadn't seen each other in years. He knocked on the door in front of him, and heard a _yeah?!_ from inside. He opened the door and slipped inside, closing the door behind him. "Hi," he uttered.

David Singh, leaning back in his chair and turning to look at him, blinked as he recognized him. "You have got to be kidding me." He hopped to his feet and rushed to close the blinds so other cops wouldn't see them. "Why on _Earth_ would you come here?"

"I'm assuming you know it was me behind the explosion in my family's company," Hartley expressed, trying to sound pleasant.

"Yes, I know! I was told by a co-worker." David rubbed his temples. "Fortunately he's the only one. I asked him to get it under wraps so this thing doesn't blow up in my face."

"What do you mean?" Hartley was a little surprised over his reaction. Surely he was the only one affected by his poor choices. Well, aside from the people he had hurt.

"People _know_ we used to date, Hart. There are pictures of us in events when we were still...a thing. If it becomes public knowledge that you were the one behind that explosion, it's not going to take people long to trace you back to me", David spat.

"So if I were to confess my crimes and sign a statement to that effect, it would make your life difficult", Hartley stated.

"Were you even going to do that?" David knew him well enough to doubt his sincerity.

"I did consider it. My psychiatrist suggested it. But no, I suppose I wouldn't. I'm of better use to society outside of a jail cell."

"Your _psychiatrist_? Didn't know you believed in all that stuff. Always thought you could fix yourself if there was ever a problem."

Hartley smiled. "I did. But I encountered a problem that was beyond me."

"Wow, that must've been hard for you to admit." David chuckled.

"Well, the softer sciences have their uses, sometimes." Hartley grew more serious.

David's expression mirrored his own. "What the hell were you trying to kill people for anyway?"

"I had a problem. An obsession. Probably still do. I'm trying to get over it. Look, I'm trying, I'm in therapy! And my psychiatrist, she suggested I get a friend. And you-"

David cut him off. "Let me stop you right there. Hart- Hartley. I'm engaged now. To a real nice guy. Who's good for me. I can't be your supporter in this."

Hartley was about to speak, but David interrupted him by placing a hand on his shoulder. "The whole time we were dating, you kept talking about your co-workers. Even in bed. It was freaky as hell."

Hartley gave him a queer smile. "Well, that's the thing. He was evil."

"Yeah, I'm sure Wells is evil. I've heard some stuff. But the other one, Cisco? You kept talking about him too, and I'm pretty sure he's a good guy. I met him a while back. To be honest, I expected him to be taller."

"I talked about Cisco in bed?"

David tilted his head to the side and nodded. "He's pretty unlike your usual type, considering your daddy issues."

Hartley rejected the notion by shaking his head, but made a mental note to mention it to his psychiatrist in their next session.

"And now, I'm going to get Joe to escort you out of the precinct without people noticing you." A minute later Joe arrived and told him to come with him.

A few blocks from the precinct, Joe told him to follow him to a bar. Hartley wasn't sure what to expect. As they sat down and ordered some drinks, Joe finally opened his mouth.

"So you tried to kill my son."


	4. Chapter 4

Cisco was starting to get used to the changes their workplace had experienced in the months that followed their big boss fight with Wells. Wells had been declared dead, even though they knew quite well that there was no way he was really dead. After the murders he had committed had come to light, the ownership of Star Labs had been questioned. As a DNA test proved Eddie to be his relative, he "inherited" Star Labs from Wells. As he had no idea how to run a lab, he had put Cisco in charge of running it. The actual ownership of the lab went to Palmer Technologies. Which turned out to be a good thing, after Wells had returned and somehow convinced Eddie to drink his evil kool aid and got him to turn to his side. So now they hadn't seen Eddie in quite a while.

The loss of Caitlin had hurt much worse, as Cisco had been friends with her for such a long time. Her breakdown and eventual departure to join Ronnie had shaken him to the core. At least she was with Ronnie, finally. Cisco wasn't sure she was safe, though. She had been in bad shape the last time he had seen her. He wished she had stayed so they could've helped her control her powers. Maybe she hadn't believed they would help her. After all, they had mostly locked powered people up, instead of helping them. But she had to know it would be different with her. They had done several fucked up things Wells had said were necessary. Now it was difficult to know right from wrong when they realized what his agenda had been all along.

The inclusion of Iris to the team had made Cisco feel better, though. She lit up the room whenever she was around and things were finally looking up when it came to her and Barry. She was also very supportive of Cisco and was always ready to talk to him about his worries. She had been really mad at Barry, Joe and Eddie at first because they had lied to her, but after they apologized to her a couple dozen times, she came around. She ultimately broke up with Eddie, though. She confided in Cisco that she came to realize that she only began seeing him because Barry was in a coma. Eddie hadn't been angry in the end, but he had started to feel out of place and this emptiness was in part what caused him to go with Wells, or Eobard or whatever. Iris felt guilty for breaking up with him even though Cisco tried to convince her that it wasn't her fault, so she hadn't immediately told Barry about her feelings. So, now she and Barry were in a weird place where they both knew they were in love with each other, but they both felt guilty because of Eddie. So now Cisco and Joe were placing bets on how long it would take for the two to finally break and jump each other.

Cisco had hired new people and had set up projects they were supposed to be working on. The idea was to design applications that would create revenue for the lab. Not that they were really desperate for cash, given that Ray was backing their operations. It was an attempt to rebuild the lab. Of course the other people at the lab were assigned to different floors so they wouldn't accidentally see Barry speeding around in and out of costume. In order for them to enter the Flash cave they needed security clearance that Cisco only assigned to Barry, Iris, Joe, Ray and Felicity. Cisco was having trouble running the lab, as he wasn't used to being in charge. Being a good scientist was a very different thing from being a good coordinator. Assisting other people in their work was also a problem, as he hadn't completed his doctoral studies, and now he was expected to direct other people in their studies. And to be honest, he had enjoyed things back when he was there to simply help Barry in his hero duties. He liked being able to design cool stuff on his own. He appreciated the position he had been given, but he really felt that he needed another person to help him around especially when it came to doctoral students. He was a mechanical engineer, he was more of a hands on person. An academically oriented scientist would be a great addition to the team. He could handle correcting of papers and would know how to advice their employees in their studies.

He had told Barry, Iris and Joe about this problem, and at first they all tried to convince him that he was just being modest. But as he explained the issue in more detail, they came to realize that he was probably right. Also, since Ray was their financial backer, they could certainly afford hiring another person to be in charge of the lab in co operation with Cisco.

One time when Cisco and Joe were hanging out at the lab, Joe's face suddenly lit up and he said he might know just the person who'd do the job. Cisco raised his eye brow. He wondered how Joe was even aware of the qualifications the person they needed required, but he was willing to give it a go.

Or at least he was, before seeing the guy Joe was suggesting.

"You are frakking kidding me", he called out as he saw Hartley standing next to Joe.

"Now, remember that he tried to kill Barry", Joe said as he stepped towards him.

"That's exactly the reason I think you've lost your mind!"

"And you know that Barry is my son. And if I'm suggesting this, you know it might be worth a second thought. You know I have a certain knack for reading people."

"Yes", Cisco admitted and slouched his shoulders.

"You said you need an academic to direct your students' work. He is qualified for that. And you know he has experience. You know how he works."

"He made everybody's lives miserable", Cisco stated. He turned to look at Hartley. "Or do you not remember?"

"I do. And I'm working on becoming a better person. I've been in therapy for months, and there are a lot of things I've come to regret about my behavior back when we worked together." Hartley spoke calmly, and he actually sounded sincere. Joe stepped backwards and Hartley walked in front of Cisco and tilted his head forward to look Cisco in the eyes. Cisco was a little alarmed by his sudden proximity. He could smell the faint fragrance of his skin. It was a nice smell. Hartley's lips were moving. "I was jealous of you."

Cisco's thoughts came back into focus. "You were jealous of _me_?"

"Because he paid attention to you. I was...interested in him, and I felt you were in the way. It wasn't right of me. I'm sorry."

Cisco was surprised. Usually when he talked to Hartley, it was like trying to work through a series of masks the other man was wearing. This blunt honesty was completely new territory. Now that he thought about it, Hartley having been into Wells should've been obvious to him. With Caitlin now gone, it was a little easier to see Hartley as one of Wells' victims too. That didn't excuse everything, though. "You're still a dick."

"In six languages", Hartley affirmed. He smiled. "But I would be useful to you."

Cisco turned to look at Joe. "I think we should talk this over with Barry and Iris."

"Talk what over with us?" Iris asked. The others turned to look at her and Barry and arriving to the lab. As Barry saw Hartley, his expression changed into that of anger. "You!"

"Hi", Hartley greeted him, obviously happily aware of the effect he had on the other man.

"What's going on?" Iris demanded.

"Your dad thinks we should hire Hartley to run the lab with me", Cisco clarified.

"The guy who tried to kill me", Barry added.

"How...awkward", Iris said. Cisco high-fived her internally, because normally he'd been the one to say that. "Wait, is this the guy you told me about?" She asked Joe. It was nice that the father-daughter duo had gone back to being completely honest with each other. It was not nice that apparently Iris had known before him about Hartley. "Wait, you knew about him?" he asked.

Iris sensed that Joe was in trouble, but before she could talk, Joe spoke first. "Yes. I've been talking to Hartley for some weeks now. He needed someone to talk to other than a shrink, and this way I can keep an eye on his progress, so he doesn't suddenly want to kill people again."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence", Hartley remarked sarcastically. "But in seriousness, Joe has been a great help." He smiled genuinely at Joe who nodded.

"Who are you? You actually said something nice to another human being. Did it hurt when they replaced your insides with alien tech?" Cisco asked.

Hartley flashed him his usual somewhat conceited smile, proof that the Hartley he knew was in there somewhere.

"So, what do you think?" Cisco asked Barry and Iris.

"Well, my dad has told me that he probably deserves a second chance. And if you're not going to lock him up or anything, this is probably the best way to keep him close to you. And he _is_ qualified for the job," Iris said. She pushed Barry gently. "What do you think, Barry?"

"I...I see what you're all saying. And things did come to light that put a lot of things in question." He pondered for a bit. "I guess it's okay. But remember, this is your only chance", he stated, pointing his finger at Hartley, who nodded.

"Understood."

Cisco sighed. "Okay. You're hired."


	5. Chapter 5

It was surprising how fast they had gotten accustomed to their new addition. The biggest reason for it was probably that Hartley was unusually quiet these days. He commented on his students' work and provided them with advice on how to improve their work, but other than that, when he was working on his own project, he was mostly silent. Cisco had asked Joe whether he was as quiet when he took him to their now habitual casual parole meeting a couple times a week. At least that's what it had been originally called. Nowadays Joe seemed to genuinely enjoy himself when he took Hartley out. Joe replied that no, Hartley was his usual snarky self when they talked.

Cisco had been anxious about working together with Hartley again, but there were no one-liners about his appearance, work or otherwise. Unless he specifically asked Hartley something, Hartley remained silent. Sometimes Cisco caught him looking at him like he had something to say, but when he asked _what_, Hartley replied _nothing_ and turned back to the papers he was supposed to grade.

Then one day Cisco just snapped. "You speak six languages. You're all about talk. What's with the radio silence? Or rather, all silence."

Hartley, still looking at his papers, smiled in that labored way he had a habit of smiling in, and finally turned to Cisco. "I'm grateful for this opportunity, and my psychiatrist said it's better not to say anything than say something that might be construed as hurtful." His smile grew crooked. "As you might remember, I'm not exactly the easiest person to work with."

"I remember that you had the potential to be a great co-worker, but instead you pissed people off intentionally." Cisco's tone was harsh, because even though Hartley had been a great asset since they had hired him a month ago, he wasn't willing to forgive and forget everything. And yet...

"Yes. That I did." Hartley's expression was a serious one. They both seemed to be thinking about their past partnership at Star Labs, and how awful Hartley had made it for Cisco. It made Cisco remember what Hartley had said. About him being jealous of Cisco. It made sense. He had originally pegged Hartley as just that, but to have the other man admit to it, to feeling that way about Cisco had been a great surprise. This new more self-aware Hartley was...not terrible.

He looked up as Hartley approached him, and raised his right hand to touch Cisco's cheek. He tentatively lowered his head closer to his, as if asking permission. Cisco found himself nodding, and Hartley kissed him on the cheek, quite sweetly even. "I'm sorry", he whispered.

He pulled back, and resumed a more familiar smirk on his face. "There's a typo on line 65 of your code", he snarked, and walked away from him, laughing as he went.

"Ass!" Cisco yelled after him. He resumed his own work, pretending to be focused on that and not on what had just happened. _Well, getting a kiss from anyone, let alone a good-looking guy like Hartley, was better than anything_, he supposed. Even if Hartley had probably done it just to tease him. Which made the warm feeling in his chest all the more irritating.

After his apology, Hartley and Cisco had been spending quite a bit of time together. Even socially. Cisco had even indoctrinated him to the mysterious ways of certain TV shows he liked. Some were a lost hope, but ultimately they discovered some common tastes when it came to TV. Hartley still wasn't sure if they were friends or whatever, but it was nice to spend time with him.

One day, Hartley came to the team Flash lab only to see Barry and Iris looking at each other in a way that looked like they were ready to jump each other, but neither dared to initiate. Hartley turned around and tried to exit the room, in an effort not to disturb them. Cisco had make it very clear he wanted those two to get together, and if he found out Hartley had interrupted them just when they were finally about to do that, the engineer wouldn't be happy with him. Unfortunately Barry had noticed his arrival, and greeted him. He turned back to the duo. "Good evening. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Barry and Iris both started saying things, but Barry got there first. "Absolutely not. Not at all. Why would you? There're no secrets. Not between us. And not between you and us. There is no us. We are...two people, who are very much...not us."

"Please stop", Hartley said.

"Thank you", Iris said, embarrassed. "So why are you here?"

"You sent me a text. You wanted to go to lunch."

"Yes I did. Are you okay here, bear?" she asked Barry, who in turn replied, looking flustered. "Of course. We, me and Cisco can handle the metahuman just fine. Go lunch. Is that a verb? I feel like it should be a verb."

"It is in French", Hartley pointed out.

"Right."

Hartley waited. "What?" Barry asked.

"Where's Cisco?" Hartley looked around, not seeing the brunette anywhere.

"He'll be right over here. You two should just go, no need to wait for him", Barry smiled at Iris, who smiled back and started ushering Hartley out of the door.

Hartley gave a small pout. He had been hoping Cisco would join them. He had grown used to seeing the man every day, so his absence was a glaring anomaly to an otherwise fine day. Iris' company was a welcome distraction from his gloom, though.

They went to Jitters, Central city's seemingly only cafe. Originally Joe had set Iris up as his other unofficial parole officer. She watched over him when Joe was working late night shifts. But she was someone who was easy to befriend, so soon they were talking about things like regular friends. She was used to snarky personalities, like her old mentor at work, so when he veered towards his earlier, rather loathsome personality, she course-corrected him rather fast. It had taken him a while to get used to her, considering he was so accustomed to science based people at work, like Cisco. It had been years when he had friends who weren't somehow work-related. Like his friends back when he was still in his parents' good graces. He had lost touch with them when he had came out to his parents. Not because they abandoned him, but because he was so angry at them. They had convinced him that coming out would be a good thing, and his parents would understand. He had known it was a bad idea, so he really only had himself to blame. But it had been so hard to admit fault back then. Up until therapy actually. It was amazing how messed up his way of thinking had been. But right now, he was just glad that he was finally able to be friends with someone outside of work, without the whole ordeal being a competition. Granted, he and Iris were in completely different fields, but still. It was nice. And it gave him a sense of personal accomplishment.

They chatted for a while about their work, the people in their lives and so on. Although the people in their lives were mostly the same people, save for Iris' colleagues and Hartley's research students. "So how's your love life?" he finally asked. He normally wouldn't have cared, but Iris was his friend. And if he were able to somehow nudge Iris towards making a move on Barry, Cisco would be happy.

"What do you mean?" Iris asked, pretending not to know what he was talking about.

"Why aren't you and Barry an item yet?"

"The same reason you haven't made a move on Cisco yet", Iris pointed out.

"Why would I-" Hartley asked. He wrinkled his forehead.

"Ah. So it's not the same. You're not there yet", Iris stated. She held her coffee cup with both of her hands and stared at him with her beautiful dark brown eyes.

"I can assure you-" Hartley started. "Alright", Iris interrupted him. She got up and laid her hand on his shoulder. "Just think about it." She seemed to think of something. "But you are right about something. Anyway, I have to get back to work." She waved him goodbye and left.

Hartley stayed to finish his meal. As he ate, he thought about what Iris had said. No matter how he came at it, he came to the conclusion that Iris had just tried to take the spot light off herself. A classic defense mechanism.

He got back to Star Labs and returned to his desk. Before sitting down, he noticed Cisco being already back on his desk. "Hi, I brought you lunch." He offered Cisco the brown bag he had been carrying. "Figured you didn't have time to eat while you were helping Barry."

Cisco accepted the bag, looking a little suspicious. "You. Brought me lunch."

"Yes. That is what people sometimes do, I hear." Hartley sat down and leaned back in his chair. He carefully left out any terms describing their relationship, as he wasn't sure what Cisco thought of the two of them. Friend might be a stretch, even though they did engage socially. Partners? Too intimate. Co-workers? Too clinical.

"Well, thanks I guess." Cisco started eating. Hartley watched him make gleeful noises over his meal. It made him break into a smile, a smile that he didn't notice until Cisco turned to him and asked: "Why are you staring at me?"

Hartley straightened his back and replied nonchalantly: "You have ketchup on your face."

"Where?" Cisco inquired playfully. He looked at Hartley in a challenging manner.

And if there was anything about Hartley that was still like his old self, it was that he never turned down a challenge. He got up to stand and walked up to the still sitting Cisco, his gaze intently on his, and placed his hand on his cheek. He then proceeded to wipe the red substance off the corner of his lips. He then licked it from his finger, never breaking eye contact with Cisco. It almost felt hypnotic, staring at him like that. Cisco seemed to be in the same trance himself, as he opened his mouth and got up to stand as well.

"Excuse me, mr. Ramon? I need your help with this project I'm working on", one of the research students came up to them and interrupted the moment.

Hartley and Cisco looked at each other for a beat, as if inquiring what to do from the other, but then Cisco looked away, and rushed over to the student and disappeared behind the corner, as that student's lab was elsewhere in the building. Hartley looked down, feeling almost as if he had failed at something. He just wasn't sure at what.


	6. Chapter 6

A couple of days later, Cisco happened to be talking to Hartley, as he did quite often these days. It was still weird to him, spending time with Hartley in a way that didn't make him want to kill him. But he was so different these days. He was still quick to point out flaws, but it was kind of like he was Chandler in that episode of Friends where he makes a bet not to say anything mean to the others. He still clearly had those thoughts, but through therapy, and Cisco and Iris readily correcting him, he had gotten better at keeping those thoughts to himself when he had them, and to simply not have them anymore in most cases. Hartley once confided in him that the medication also helped, helping his brain get over depression or whatever it was that also made him compare himself so much with other people. Cisco had been surprised to have Hartley admit something like that, and especially to him.

So when they talked, he asked him whether he had seen Ghostbusters. For some reason, he felt it was important that he see the film.

"No. Before you, I was more into-", Hartley began.

"Documentaries and artsy European flics, I remember", Cisco finished for him.

"I watched American movies as well, if they were any good."

Cisco shook his head. "You in or out?"

Hartley smiled. "In."

As they watched the film from one of the Star Labs computers, Cisco moved his lips as he remembered most of the dialog from memory. Hartley stared at the screen intently, brow wrinkled. After the movie ended, Cisco turned to Hartley. "You're kind of freaking me out. Did you like it?"

"The characters were rather distasteful. But I do find the idea of them using tech to entrap ghosts rather exciting. Also awfully close to what we do with metahumans. On the occasion you let me join you." Hartley said as he stretched his arms and legs. Cisco noticed his legs were rather shapely. Had they always been that way? "Well, obviously it wouldn't work in real life", Cisco interjected.

"Yes, the proton accelerators would be far too big to carry on their back, at least using current technology", Hartley agreed.

"And even if that were the case, there's no telling ghosts would be negatively charged", Cisco supposed.

"Yes, and it seems likely that ghosts would come in different sorts, based on their origin", Hartley continued.

"So there would have to be a case study made from different ghosts, and how to best entrap them", Cisco finished. He smiled. "I have to say, I'm surprised to have you talk about ghosts with me. It's very non-sciency."

Hartley joined his smile. "Actually it is speculative science, and engaging in it would profit us in the end. Considering the lives we lead, we might someday actually have to catch a ghost. So we might as well be prepared for it." He raised his left eyebrow. "I assume you know a thing or two about the speculative inner workings of ghosts." His smile became an almost flirtatious one.

Cisco's heart swelled up with excitement, just like when he was about to see a new episode of his favorite show. "You want to come up with real life versions of ghostbuster tech with me", was all he could manage. He had never had a true partner in crime, one that would have been interested in building stuff from his favorite movies with him. Even with Ronnie, it was mostly Cisco building stuff on his own, and then just showing them to Ronnie. Having someone plan and build geeky stuff with him...it was his life long dream.

"Yes. To help team Flash." Hartley spoke in a tone that sounded very serious, but his eyes glimmered. It was a hint that he seemed genuinely interested in the fun side of their new project. As Hartley began outlining the parameters needed to build a ghost catching tool, Cisco realized that the felt connected to the other man, in a way that he hadn't felt in a long while.

It was nearly midnight when Hartley dozed off in his chair. He had taken his medication half an hour earlier, and he had soon began showing signs of tiredness. Cisco went to pick up a few mattresses and blankets for Hartley and himself. They were meant for employees who were working late at the lab, and technically they were...they had just been working on something else. Hartley was out cold so he didn't even let out a sound when Cisco lowered him on the mattress and covered him with the blanket. He wasn't even heavy. He had been deadly at his worst, but mostly due to his mental prowess, not due to physical dominance. Seeing him now, drooling from the corner of his mouth, he was vulnerable. Just like when he confided in Cisco about his mental problems or medication that he took to get over them. It endeared him to Cisco. He placed his hand on Hartley's chest lightly. "I had a really nice time tonight", he whispered.

Hartley woke up to the sound of snoring. He closed his mouth, and realized the sound wasn't coming from himself. Still sleepy, he turned around to see Cisco sleeping a foot away from him. He was surprised. He had no idea Cisco even swung that way. Even though he sometimes really wished he did. He didn't even remember sleeping with him, which was a memory he definitely would've liked to have.

Wait.

He rubbed his eyes. He got up to sit, and felt his own chest. He was wearing clothes. He lifted the blanket that Cisco was clutching to, and noted that he was wearing clothes as well. So no sex. As he now looked better, he realized they were both on separate mattresses, and on the floor. At the lab. He noted the plans they had made last night that were placed on the floor next to them. His memory started coming back to him. He rubbed his temples. How was it possible that he had fallen asleep while wearing his day ear pieces? Cisco's snoring alone should've kept him awake. He checked his ear, and found something new. He took it out, and it seemed to be a noise-cancelling earbud that had a timer on it. It must have been something that Cisco designed for him. The reason he had woken up was because the timer had switched to day use. Unlike his own ear pieces, taking it off and putting it back didn't hurt.

He hugged his knees as he observed the small scientist's sleeping face. _Cisquito_, he thought. _You are quite adorable_.

He laid back down, closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. He listened to the snoring and smiled.

A few days later, Cisco decided to organize a movie night with the team. It would be nice for all of them to spend some time outside of work for a change. They had done these outings regularly before the big boss fight with Wells, but it had been a while. He had spent time with Hartley, Hartley had spent time with Iris and Iris and Barry had spent time together, and of course Cisco had spent time with Barry, but not all of them together.

So, as Cisco and Hartley were finishing up work and Iris had met them at the lab, they started walking towards Cisco's place. Half-way there, Barry wooshed next to them and happily hugged Iris before settling to walk like a regular person alongside them. At his place, Iris sat on the couch and Barry sat right next to her. Cisco took the seat next to him and Hartley chose the last remaining spot. "Oh right, the snacks are in the kitchen", Cisco noted and got up to get them. "Don't worry about it", Barry cut in and wooshed to and back from the kitchen with the snacks in tow. He placed most of them on the table but offered him the bowl of chips. "Thanks", he said as he accepted the bowl.

"So, what are we watching tonight?" Hartley asked. "Please let it not be Mean Girls again."

"Actually, I was thinking we would re-watch Jurassic Park."

"I haven't seen that one", Hartley pointed out.

"Even better." Cisco turned to Barry and Iris. "Have you two seen it? I figure since you grew up together, you've either both seen it or haven't."

"We didn't live together yet when the movie came out. Barry did make me see it on video a couple of times, but I don't remember much of it", Iris replied.

"I saw it at the movie theater with...my mom", Barry sighed. Iris placed her arm around him to comfort him. "Oh bear."

"No, it'll be nice to see it again. With the people I love. Minus Joe and my dad. Plus Hartley", Barry added. He looked at Hartley apologetically. "Sorry man. We're not there yet."

Hartley smiled crookedly. "It's fine. I did try to kill you after all." They, as a group, still danced around Hartley's past criminal activities. He himself was rather upfront about what he had done, as part of his recovery process, but for the others it was still a bit awkward to remember that the person with whom they were so comfortable right now, had tried to do some pretty nasty stuff.

"So, Jurassic Park", Cisco announced, in an effort to move past the uncomfortable moment. As the movie started playing, they all settled to their places and started trading bowls of snacks.

"So these people just figured that resurrecting dinosaurs would be a great idea and would not in fact lead to them eating humans?" Hartley said at the 10 minute mark.

"You said you haven't seen this movie", Cisco rebuked him.

"I haven't, but just based on the introduction, that _is_ what happens, right?" Hartley inquired, looking smug.

"Okay, yes", Cisco agreed, glumly. He couldn't help but smile when Hartley victoriously touched his arm.

"That is actually the part that I do remember", Iris cut in and passed the dip to Barry. "But they never killed a woman in the films, right?"

"That's correct", Cisco stated.

"Really?" Barry joined the conversation. "I never noticed that. And I've seen this movie like ten times."

As the movie progressed and more dinosaurs were shown, Hartley became more talkative. "That species is actually the size of a chicken, and it should have feathers. The tail is pretty accurate, but the whole thing should be a lot smaller. And now that you mention it, you could not extract dinosaur's blood from an insect that bit it. The actual insect's yes, but the tissue decay of the dinosaur blood would be too extensive. And brachiosaurs couldn't support their own weight on one set of legs." Before he could point out something else, Cisco interrupted him by offering him a bowl of gummy bears. "Hartley. Stuff your mouth with these." As he spoke, he felt a hotness around his cheeks as he realized what else Hartley's mouth could be filled with. Fortunately none of the others picked up on the possible double meaning.

"Cisco, you're a scientist!" Hartley yelped incredulously as he accepted the bowl.

"Hartley, sometimes it's nice to watch something even though it's not 100% accurate to reality", Iris told him and grinned at Barry, who whispered to her _He is right though_. She playfully pretended to slap his chest.

"Okay, but next time I'm bringing a documentary, and we'll see how much fun you're having", Hartley gave up and settled for a pout.

"What's wrong? You don't usually complain this much when we watch stuff together", Cisco asked him. Case in point, their Ghostbuster viewing.

"A TV show about time travel is obviously fiction. Present company not included", Hartley nodded to Barry. "That show is not even supposed to follow logic. Here we have dinosaurs that actually lived, and they could be accurate but they aren't."

"The discovery of feathers on dinosaurs happened after the movie was made, if that helps a little", Barry pointed out.

"It does, actually." Hartley sighed. "Fine. I'll let it go."

Cisco chuckled. He patted Hartley on his leg, prompting the other man to look at him briefly. He pretended not to see the look. They were in company, after all. He crossed his arms and resumed watching the film.

After the movie ended, they started chatting about whatever came to mind at the time. "It was nice they got together at the end, but it was so sad for the director guy", Iris said. "Yeah, it was his life long dream", Barry agreed.

"Apart from the scientific inaccuracies, as far as fiction goes, it was a pretty good movie", Hartley admitted. "But they could have made it a lot better by sticking to accurate dinosaurs."

"And what, have chicken-sized raptors with feathers running around?" Cisco asked jokingly from Hartley.

Hartley bit his lip. "Amongst other things", he managed.

"So, another movie? The night is still young", Cisco asked.

"Actually, we have...date, to go on", Barry grinned. Iris beamed next to him.

"Really?" Cisco asked incredulously. Hartley smiled.

"Yeah, we decided to finally stop beating around the bush. Or I decided." Iris corrected herself. "Thanks for your advise, Hartley", she said as she kissed him on the cheek.

"I don't think I did much, but if you found it helpful, good", Hartley said and touched her arm.

Cisco shook hands with Barry. "Congratz dude!" Barry grinned back and wrapped his arm around Iris. "Have fun you two", Hartley said as the two exited the apartment.

With the two of them gone, the room became quiet.

"You told Iris to go after Barry?" Cisco asked and sat back down on the couch.

"I figured you would like it", Hartley replied. "And Iris is my friend, too."

Cisco was impressed that the other man would do something just for him. And Iris of course. It made him feel...really, really good.

"I never got the chance to say thank you", Hartley uttered and sat down as well.

"For what? Putting down your premise for the movie?" Cisco asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"For the earbuds you designed. For me", Hartley sighed and looked at him.

"Oh. No problem." Cisco put his hands on his knees and tried to look in front of him and not at Hartley. He was suddenly afraid of what he might do if he looked the man in the eyes.

"It means something to me. And that's proof of how far I've come."

Cisco raised an eyebrow. "How far you've come? I designed them."

"Yes, but before, I would've been furious that you designed something that works better than what I did. But now...", Hartley said as he moved closer to him. Cisco felt a jolt in his chest. "But now what?" he said, and finally turned to look at Hartley.

"I am simply _honored_ that you would think of me and build something like that. For me", Hartley whispered.

Cisco felt his breath on his skin. That's how close they were.

Suddenly he jumped up and nearly shouted: "THERE ARE SOME MORE SNACKS IN THE KITCHEN" and effectively ran to the to the kitchen to pick them up.

"I'm surprised there's any left, considering that Barry was with us", Hartley spoke in a tone that indicated in no way that anything non-platonic might have been about to happen a second ago.

"I always pack extra when Barry's around", Cisco replied. He came back to the living room and placed the bowls between them for easy access for both of them. And to keep a safe distance between them. "So you up for another movie?"

"You'll soon make me fat with these movie nights", Hartley remarked as he reached for a gummy bear.

"Don't worry about it, you look great", Cisco said and bit his tongue immediately after.

Frak.


	7. Chapter 7

"Okay, you may have been right about me and Cisco." Hartley stated.

Iris smiled. "Of course I am."

"I almost kissed him."

Iris took a sip of her coffee, and thought for a moment. "But you didn't."

"I think I made him uncomfortable. He got up and pretended to pick up more snacks from the kitchen." Hartley rested elbows on the table and his jaw in his hands. "I don't think he's interested."

Iris curved her lips. "I have to say, I don't know what Cisco likes. Barry told me about a girl that he kissed, but apparently she turned out to be a metahuman and kidnapped him."

"I thought the reason you teased me was because you thought we might date", Hartley asked, feeling a little annoyed.

Iris set down her coffee cup. "I thought you would! I thought Cisco was totally into you", she declared defensively.

"Has Barry said anything to you about what Cisco thinks of me?" Hartley inquired.

"No. I don't think they've talked about it."

"Ugh. So it's just me." Hartley covered his face with his hands.

"I'm not so sure. I think you should just ask him honestly what he feels about you. You might be surprised", Iris said, and took another sip of her coffee.

"No, I'm finally in a friendly place with Cisco. I'm not going to ruin it with these – feelings or whatever. I'll just tell him I just want to be friends with him."

"Hartley...", Iris started but Hartley didn't want to hear it.

"Sorry, I have to go, my lunch break is almost over."

Cisco had just woken up and he was looking into his bathroom mirror. "I do not have a crush on Hartley Rathaway. I do not." The mirror didn't reply, of course, but Cisco still felt he was on the losing side.

He arrived early to work and used every excuse to avoid Hartley as much as possible. He made it to lunch time without seeing him, but then he heard his voice behind him. "Are you free for lunch?"

Cisco turned around, a little startled. "Yes. No. Actually, I have someone else to go to lunch with me."

"Who?" Hartley inquired.

"Barry", Cisco claimed.

"That's funny, he just texted me and said he'd join us", Hartley said in a tone that seemed a little too light to be genuine. He grew serious. "Cisco. I know what you're thinking."

"You do?" Cisco almost mouthed the words, that's how quiet his voice was.

"You think I'm attracted to you", Hartley remarked.

Cisco's lips curved to form a cartoon duck's beak. "I do." It was meant as a question, but it sounded like a statement instead.

"And I just want to make sure you know that you have nothing to worry about. I don't see you that way. I value the relationship we have right now, and I don't want to do anything to make you uncomfortable."

"Okay. So we're friends", Cisco stated and Hartley smiled back. "We're friends?"

"Yeah, dude. We built Ghostubuster stuff together. That makes us friends, definitely." Cisco thought for a moment. "So when you apologized and kissed me on the cheek..."

"I was just emphasizing my point about how sorry I was. And you know, kisses on the cheek are French. Now I'm not French, but I like the idea of platonic kisses between friends." Hartley finished, looking sincere.

Cisco wrinkled his brow for a moment, but supposed it sounded believable enough. "Ok, let's go to lunch."

Hartley beamed, and started walking ahead of him. Cisco followed him, feeling guilty over his gaze lingering at the other man's bottom. Frak.

"I told him I don't have feelings for him. And then we went to lunch", Hartley finished telling his psychiatrist everything that had happened in the last few weeks. She had been on holiday and this was their first session in a while. She wasted no time chitchatting and replied in her usual blunt manner. "So you lied to him."

"Yes."

"Well, I'm supposed to advise you to steer clear of romance at this critical point in your recovery because by dating someone right now, you run the risk of trying to get better just for his sake, when you should be trying to get better for your own good. But I think, considering the fact that you are doing better, you can date him if you want, so long as it is for the right reasons."

"But he's not interested in me. That's the problem." Hartley sighed and leaned back in his chair. He usually hadn't had this problem because if he had wanted a date, he'd gone to a place with lots of other gay men and found one. Of course, Har- _his former boss_ had also been unavailable, but that hadn't dawned on Hartley until it had been too late.

"Right." She tilted her head to the side. "But you also said that your friend, this Iris, thinks he is interested."

"She said she was wrong."

"Well, let's discuss other matters. Are you still thinking about your former boss? When we last met, you seemed to be making headway and the nightmares had stopped."

"I haven't had nightmares. Sometimes, when I'm hungry and tired, my mind turns towards blaming him for any small problem I have, but it's only happened once or twice. I followed your advice and took a sedative when that happened, but the biggest help I've had in stopping those thoughts is going to sleep early and making sure I'm well fed through out the day."

"That's good. Making small changes to feel better over all is an excellent way to maintain your progress. And the medication you have is there to support it as well. I'm also delighted to hear you've spent some time with the people you've told me about. Keep on being friends with Iris and Cisco. Have you spent time with Joe recently?"

"No, actually I haven't."

"Do you think you'd want to spend time with him?"

Hartley didn't need to think about it. "Yes, I'd like that." After his parents had disowned him, Joe had become the closest thing he'd had for a healthy elderly role model.

"Good. Try that for next time. And keep your feelers out when it comes to Cisco. You never know."

Hartley invited Joe to a bar that was located near his apartment. As he made his way to the pub, Joe texted him and said he was going to be 30 minutes late because of a sudden break in a case. So, Hartley sat there and waited for him to arrive. As he waited, he watched two men play darts, each displaying a distinctly different lack of skill at the game: one of the men always aimed too low, while the other aimed correctly but turned his wrist at the last moment, resulting in neither men gaining many points. Nevertheless, after they'd thrown all the darts, they kissed each other in a congratulatory manner. Suddenly Hartley imagined what it would look like if it was him and Cisco kissing, Hartley forgot himself for a moment. Then he felt a strong arm on his shoulder. "Hey Hart", Joe greeted him. "Are those two friends of yours? You keep looking at them like they are."

"No, just... no", Hartley muttered. "So how did the bust go?"

"I'm actually surprised I'm not more late, but the Flash came and helped us out, so we got to wrap up early. All we needed to do was hand in the paper work", Joe smiled and sat opposite to Hartley on his table. "So what have you been up to? I haven't seen you in a while. Most of it has been me being busy at work, but Iris tells me you've been busy too."

Hartley wondered what else Iris had told him, but decided to skirt around the Cisco issue. "The doctoral students are shaping up nicely. I saw my psychiatrist yesterday. And I've been trying to eat regularly so I don't get bad spells."

"I'm not your probation officer", Joe chuckled at his official tone. "But that all sounds good."

"Cisco said we're friends. I would consider that a big development", Hartley added.

"I could've told you that, but that's good too", Joe said and ordered them drinks from a waiter that passed their table.

Hartley tried to smile, but it wasn't a genuine smile. Joe picked up on that.

"Do you not want to be friends with him?"

Hartley started, but before he could utter a syllable, Joe got the idea. "Oh."

Hartley remained silent. Why was this so obvious to everyone? Or was it just the West family that was excellent at picking up romantic cues from others?

"I almost kissed him, but he seemed so uncomfortable that I later lied to him and told him I'm not interested in him."

"Well, if he's not interested, then that's it I guess, but you didn't need to lie to him."

"If I want to remain friends with him, I kinda do", Hartley stated. "I don't want to make him uncomfortable."

"It is completely possible to tell him about your feelings and for you two to remain good friends", Joe pointed out. "Iris and Barry were friends for a while after his confession."

Hartley wanted to point out that at least those two had compatible orientations, but felt it was beside the point if the idea was just to be friends. "Well, I can't just tell him I lied to him."

"Why not?"

"You are not in on this drama I have cooked up in my head", Hartley said, with a pouting look.

"In my experience, real life is a lot more drama free than television or movies. Just try it."

Hartley sighed. "When was the last time you went on a date?" He snarked.

Joe looked shocked. When Hartley saw the look on Joe's face, he immediately apologized. "I'm really sorry, I didn't mean that."

"It's okay", Joe said. "I just...really couldn't remember the last time."

"Maybe we could talk about something a little less stressful than dating?" Hartley asked, attempting to make amends.

"Deal." Joe thought for a moment. "Actually, the game is on right now. Let's ask the waiter to turn the volume up."

"Dear lord, you watch football?" Hartley asked.

"Of course", Joe replied. "Come on, it's fun if you actually know what's going on. Here that guy is passing the ball to that player over there, which is called..."

Hartley actually enjoyed listening to Joe explain the game to him. Football would probably never become his favorite past time, but it would be something he and Joe shared, and therefore valuable.


	8. Chapter 8

Cisco and Barry were hanging out at the lab when Iris burst in. "Open the TV. Channel six."

Barry did as she asked and they listened to the news. "A series of mysterious fires has been set all around Central City. The police believes this to be the work of some pyromaniac, and advises citizens to call in any mysterious activity near living areas."

"Based on the emails I've gotten to my blog, I believe that the person behind the fires is a metahuman", Iris explained after the news turned to other themes.

"Why didn't Joe call me in?" Barry asked.

"Dad hasn't been answering my calls, and when I phoned the police station, David said that he and the team he took with him hasn't been heard from in an hour."

"Do you think Joe's in trouble?" Cisco asked.

"Well, you know Joe, everybody else before him", Iris said, appearing gloomy.

"I'll go look for him. Do you have any idea who could be behind the fires?" Barry put on his suit.

"I got a tip that it might be Alan Kerry, a university student who was doing his master thesis on pyromania. I'll go talk to his room mate, see if he knows anything", Iris revealed.

"What do you want me to do?" Cisco started putting his coat on.

"You should probably go deliver ice guns to the police to help with the fires. Then you could go see Alan's thesis supervisor, see if he knows anything. It's probably nothing, but at least try", Barry suggested.

"Okay", Cisco agreed as Barry wooshed away and Iris left to grab a taxi. He decided to take Hartley with him, if only to help carry the ice guns. _Any excuse to spend more time with him_, his mind told him, but he went and explained the situation to Hartley anyway. They dragged the weapons in duffle bags to the taxi and told the driver to head for the police station.

Once in the car, Cisco leaned back and pretended to look out of the window, while in reality using his peripheral vision to look at Hartley. He was actually looking out of the window. Cisco wondered if he had always looked this good, or was it his new personality that made him see him in that way. Or was it simply that he hadn't wanted to admit it before. Either way, right then, Cisco was imagining Hartley kissing him on the backseat they were sitting on.

After their conversation about Hartley not being interested in him, Cisco had been feeling rejected. He had been seeing Hartley in a whole new light, only for the man to pull the rug out from underneath him, so to speak. Or maybe now that Hartley had stated his feelings, or lack there of, plainly, Cisco felt safe fantasizing about him because there was no chance of actually dating him and getting his heart broken. Maybe that was the reason Cisco had had so little luck in the romance department. He didn't have the guts to put himself out there.

"Do you think Iris will be safe interviewing the room mate? For all we know, he could be Kerry's partner in crime", Hartley suddenly uttered and Cisco returned to reality.

"No, Barry said he will send one of the cops with her."

"Okay, good." Hartley grew silent again. He seemed worried.

"Are you okay?"

Hartley looked uncomfortable. "Well, it's just...David and I used to go out."

"David? I don't know who that is."

"I think you know him better as captain Singh."

Cisco's eyes widened. "Oh. I had no idea... oh."

"It was a long time ago. But it's a little awkward."

Cisco digested the new piece of information. "Alright then. Well, we shouldn't be there for more than half an hour."

At the police station they were met with David Singh and a team of cops. They handed them the guns and asked them to bring them a test dummy.

"So kind of like the last time, when we brought you guns to battle against ice weapons, this time you will be the ones using ice weapons against fire. All you need to do is press this button to load the gun", he pointed out the one, "and pull this small lever. It's very much like a regular gun."

"How long does it take to load?" David asked.

"Only a second, and by that time you're already pulling the lever", Hartley pointed out. David seemed irritated, but didn't say anything.

"Don't keep pressing the button, otherwise you run out of ice", Cisco added. "One re-load will give you 12 shots. So one button press leads to 12 lever pulls."

"You heard the man. The ice packs are right here, every team takes enough for backup", Hartley continued.

Cisco gave him a secret smile.

The team started gathering their things and moved out.

"Hartley, a word." David stated rather than asked, and Hartley stepped with him into his office.

Cisco sneaked closer to hear them. The blinds happened to be shut so the two wouldn't see him.

"Hartley, I told you I can't be there for you. I'm married now."

"I only came because Cisco wanted me to help him. It had nothing to do with you, I assure you, and besides-"

"Joe said that you two have been spending time together."

"Yeah, Cisco and I are-"

"I mean you and Joe."

"Yes?"

"Don't get any ideas."

"David, Joe is like a father to me."

"That may be, but I know your habit of falling for older men."

"I have been with people my age too", Hartley claimed.

"Anyway. Just don't go doing anything stupid with Joe."

"Wouldn't dream of it. He has been one of the few people who've been nothing but decent to me."

"Okay. I don't want to be a dick about this, but I just want to make sure-"

"Heard you loud and clear. And I've been much more of a dick to you in the past, so I guess a little payback is in order."

"Okay. Take care of yourself." Hartley turned to exit his office, and Cisco got in a hurry to rush away from the door and fell on the floor stomach first.

"What a nice view", Hartley snarked from behind him. Cisco felt his cheeks redden and got up.

Now that they were unburdened from the ice guns, they were free to go see the professor. They called another taxi and headed for the university. They were quiet for a good five minutes until the silence was broken by Cisco.

"Didn't you say you liked doctor Wells romantically?" Cisco inquired.

"Yes?" Hartley seemed confused.

Cisco was deep in thought, putting two and two together. Two was already a pattern of sorts, and now that Cisco started to remember Hartley's other boyfriends, they had all been either Hartley's age or older. And Cisco was definitely younger than him. "So you-"

"Yes?"

Cisco closed his mouth. He started again, but nothing came out. He shook his head so Hartley would drop the conversation. He then started looking out of the window so Hartley wouldn't see his expression. Somehow, it felt worse to realize that he simply wasn't Hartley's type, than it was to be told plainly that the man wasn't interested in him. Which told him that this time, he actually wanted things to work out between them. Fantastic timing, if he ever experienced it.


	9. Chapter 9

At the university, they ran into a man who seemed like he was part of the faculty. "Hi, do you happen to know Alan Kerry?"

"Yes, I think he's one of our master thesis students. I don't know where he is, though, if you're looking for him."

"Do you happen to know who his thesis supervisor is?" Cisco joined the conversation.

"Yes, Winston Kelly is responsible for those types of works. His office is at the end of the corridor. He stepped out for lunch a good 10 minutes ago. If you haven't eaten yet, I'd suggest you take advantage of our cafeteria and wait for him. He'll certainly be back in an hour, as usual." He pointed them to the cafeteria's direction and nodded in goodbye to them.

Hartley turned to look at Cisco. "So, lunch?" He offered his arm to Cisco, who slipped his own arm around it so they were set as if in a movie from the 1920's. "Agreed." Cisco smiled shyly. Seeing that smile made Hartley ridiculously happy.

As they arrived at the cafeteria, they parted hands and joined the queue of students waiting to get lunch. At the table they sat down and started eating. "It has been a while since I've been to a campus", Hartley pointed out. "The psychology campus is very different to the one I was in."

Cisco smirked. "Yes, mine was very sanitized. Here there are trees and bushes. That one looks to be growing right out of the building", he said as he pointed at a nearby building.

Hartley chuckled. He laid his hand on the table, and ate his sandwich with his other hand. "They are really taking the green wall concept seriously."

"Green wall?" Cisco asked and set his hand down too, next to Hartley's hand.

"They set plants on a wall and hope that they will produce oxygen that will improve the air inside buildings. It's rather popular in universities since their buildings are usually quite old", Hartley said and moved his hand a hint nearer Cisco's hand. "Cisco. Were you listening in on me and David?"

Cisco looked surprised and was clearly working on coming up with a good excuse. Hartley interrupted his thought process. "I'm not mad. I just want to know if it was curiosity or something else."

The corners of Cisco's mouth tightened. "Something else."

"So what was it?" Hartley asked again.

Cisco closed his eyes. "I don't want to trouble you."

Hartley smiled and wrapped his arms around him. "You won't. Just tell me."

Cisco placed his hands on his chest. The gesture turned the hug into something more intimate. Cisco seemed to notice this too, and he opened his eyes. Hartley briefly wondered how he always seemed to end up like this with Cisco, even after they talked and agreed to be just friends. He realized he was too close, so he patted Cisco on the back briefly and detached himself from him. "Tell me", he repeated.

"It's stupid", Cisco sighed and sneezed. Hartley only now realized he was crying. _Oh God, what did I do? _He handed him a napkin. Cisco wiped his eyes and nose with the napkin. Hartley handed him another one. "I'm sure it's not. But you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"It's just that...I've been feeling a bit lonely. With Caitlin and Ronnie gone and Iris and Barry together..."

"I'm sure you'll meet someone. I know everybody always says that, but you are definitely going to meet someone. You're funny, you're smart and you're caring. Those three ingredients make a recipe for a great boyfriend", Hartley reassured him.

"Thanks", Cisco said. "It's nice of you to say."

"Cisco, I don't say nice things. I say things that are true." Hartley smiled at him and tried to cheer him up. Cisco wiped his face and nodded. "Ok. I take back my gratitude."

"Good. Now let's finish up our meals so we can go chat up this professor", Hartley smiled and dug into his sandwich.

A while later they ended up behind the professor's door. It was locked, even though it was way past time for him to have returned. They knocked the door several times, but to no avail. They saw that the door next to his was open, and popped inside. "Excuse me, do you happen to know where Winston Kelly is?"

"He's usually back in his office at this time."

"He doesn't seem to be home", Cisco pointed out.

"Oh, well in that case he's probably at home. He has been known to take his work home with him. I can give you his address if you'd like?"

"That would be perfect, thank you", Cisco said.

"You can take bus number 4, it goes almost straight to his place. All you need to do is drop off at the convenience store and then turn left and walk for half a mile in that direction. The road ends at his place, you can't miss it", the old professor advised them and wrote the address down. Cisco accepted the paper and thanked the man.

They grabbed the next bus and sat down. "I don't know why we're even bothering, the man probably doesn't know anything", Hartley sighed.

"Well, anything that can help the case is worth exploring. If he has notes on Kerry's thesis, we might get some insight on why he's setting these fires."

"He's a metahuman that can use fire, and he wrote his thesis on pyromania. I'm pretty sure the guy just likes fire", Hartley joked.

Cisco pushed him on the side and laughed. "It almost feels like too on the nose to call him Pyromaniac."

"Maybe Pyre?" Hartley suggested.

"That's acceptable."

Hartley was glad Cisco liked his suggestion. He was usually so particular about naming metahumans.

They got off the bus and started walking towards the good professor's house. When they arrived, they noted that, to their surprise, the house was actually several floors in height. It looked more like a block of flats than a house for one man. But now that Hartley thought about it, how did they know how much family he had. "So how many generations of kids does this guy have?" Cisco asked incredulously.

Hartley shrugged and they walked to ring the bell. They heard some sounds from inside and a person going down the stairs towards them. The door finally opened. A man in his late 60's stared at them and looked more than a little confused.

"Winston Kelly, I presume?" Hartley asked him, and winked at Cisco to note that he had used the doctor Livingstone reference on purpose. Cisco smiled back.

"Yes. What is the purpose of your visit? Who are you?"

"We are working with the Central City police force and came to ask you a few questions about one of your students", Hartley said. It was only stretching the truth a little.

"Yes? Do come in. "

He treated them to lemonade and they sat on some sofas he had in his living room.

"I assume this is about Alan? I've watched the news about this fire setting maniac."

Cisco nodded. "Yes. Could we see his work? We have a few questions on his views on pyromania."

"I have my computer in my study, it's in the upper most floor of the house."

Hartley stared for a beat.

"You see, I get so little exercise so I try to use the stairs as much as possible and locating the study there gives me the excuse to walk up the most stairs. My old legs aren't what they used to be, but I try to keep active."

"I see."

"Alan has been interested in fire from a young age. His parents were killed in a fire. So he's always tried to understand the appeal, in order to help people with the obsession to set fires."

"It doesn't sound like he'd be a prime candidate to set fires, then", Hartley stated.

"No, I doubt that. But the actual culprit may have used him or his work to set those fires. Alan sent me a few notes a day or two ago that you might be interested to see." He got up and motioned them to follow him upstairs.

Hartley dragged his feet. "Hart, come on", Cisco passed by him and practically jumped up the stairs. "Ugh", he replied.

The building was small but very tall. Every floor except the ground floor had only one room, so the stairs lead straight to the only room in a particular floor and continued to the rooms above.

In the top floor, they sat on some chairs and professor pulled out his laptop. "Oh silly me, I forgot that the USB stick is in the floor below this one. Wait for me here. But here is one of the drafts he sent me", he said and pushed the laptop further away from himself so Cisco and Hartley could see better. They sat together and started going through the document. It didn't seem at all strange considering it was simply supposed to be a study on people who committed crimes related to fire.

"Do you smell something? It's like gasoline." Cisco asked him, sniffing the air.

Hartley sniffed too. "Oh no." They turned around. They could only see the professor from the shoulders up, as he was in the stairs. He had been spreading gasoline with a hose, slowly so they hadn't heard the noise. Well, Hartley had heard it with his super hearing, but he had assumed that he was pouring himself tea or something. He lit a match and threw it on the pool of gasoline, igniting it immediately. The professor ran down the stairs and wet the stairs as well and lit them on fire too. "Just so you don't think about escaping this way", he said and lit the floor below them on fire too. "Goodbye!"

Hartley had at first thought about simply running through the fire down the stairs, but now that that wasn't an option anymore, he ran to the opposite side of the room. The window was nailed shut with two by fours. Hartley tried to see if they would nudge if you just pulled at them a little, but the professor had done a fine work. There were no usable tools around, from what he could see, and the two by fours had been placed in a way that you couldn't pull them with your hands.

He heard a crash, and he turned around to see Cisco using a chair to hit the wall. "Try hitting the window", Hartley suggested and grabbed a chair himself. The chairs weren't strong of build and the first time Cisco hit the window, one of the legs of his chair flew off. "Try the wall next to the window", Cisco yelled. He turned around the get another chair, but the fire behind them had advanced so the other chairs were consumed by the fire. Hartley kicked the wall. He kicked it again and again and, to his surprise as much as Cisco's, managed to make a dent. He took his chair and kept hitting the wall with it. The wall started looking pretty poor, but it was still a wall. There was no escaping through that route.

Half the room was now covered in flames. It was a small room, so really they didn't have much time left. Hartley's ears were ringing from the noises fire made.

"You don't happen to have one of those ice guns with you, do you?" Cisco asked. "I would really love to answer yes to that. Unfortunately, I have to go with _no_ on this one", Hartley replied. He thought for a moment. "Cisco. How tall is this building?"

"Five floors, that makes it at least...15 meters. 49 feet. Why?"

Hartley grabbed one of the drapes. He then used the drape to enter the side of the room already engulfed in flames. He kicked the wall that was on fire, and he managed to create an opening. The wall had been on fire for a while, so it wasn't as strong as it normally would've been. If Hartley had had more time to admire the interior of the building, he might have appreciated the fact that the top floor was different from the other floors in its construction. The part that he had kicked hadn't given in because the fire had helped him unwittingly, it was because it was some sort of a latch that lead outside. Hartley suddenly realized his leg was on fire. He jumped back to the safe side and Cisco. He patted down his leg. Then he pulled off the rest of the drapes and handed them to Cisco.

"Take this."

"What's the plan?" Cisco asked. Hartley looked him in the eyes. He really seemed to believe they'd both get out of there. At that moment, Hartley made his decision. It wasn't a self-less decision. It was the reverse: a purely selfish decision. Rationally, Cisco really was the better of the two of them. The one who deserved to get out of here. But the reason he wanted Cisco to be the one to live wasn't rational at all. It was just...the way he felt about him.

"I made an opening. You wrap yourself in this, and go through the fire to that opening, and jump off the building."

"Okay, sounds good. What will you do? There are no curtains left, and the rug is nailed to the floor."

"I'll be right behind you. I'll use my jacket to shield me and follow you. But we have to move quickly. The fire is advancing." Hartley lied so convincingly that he almost believed the lie himself. He wished he could say a proper goodbye, but if he did, Cisco wouldn't leave without him. Because that was the kind of person he was.

Cisco wrapped himself in the drapes and ran through the fire, pushed his feet through the opening and dropped off view. He left behind his drape, which caught on fire as well, stopping Hartley from even considering following in his footsteps. Soon, Hartley heard a thump. Only one fracture. Good.

He heard Cisco yelling at him. "Hart, come on!"

Hartley closed his eyes. I'm sorry. He opened them again, and laid down on the floor in the last corner that was free of flames. He searched his pocket for a tissue. He found the ones Cisco had been crying on earlier. It was fitting somehow. He pressed them on his lips and nose to at least attempt to filter out the harmful substances he knew all too well were released in a fire. He closed his eyes again. This time for good. He could feel and hear his pants catch on fire. He felt sorry for Cisco because he would lose one more friend. He was already lonely. Poor Cisquito.

At that point he lost consciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

Cisco stumbled up. Or tried to. His leg felt weird. It didn't support his weight. He fell down.

He looked up, back to the house. The upper floors were clearly engulfed in flames, which he already knew because he had been there just a second ago. The thing he hadn't known was that the bottom floors seemed less affected. "Hart!"

Nothing. "Come on man, it's your turn!"

He felt a chill as he realized. _He never intended to get out_. His eyes teared up. _You fucking idiot_.

He remembered that his cellphone was in his bag which he had left on the bottom floor of the house. He crawled as fast as he could to the house. Fortunately the door was open. _Why lock it, when you've set it on fire_, he figured.

He crawled to the sofa where his bag was. He rummaged through it. _Why do I have so much stuff?_

Finally, he found the phone. He dialed.

"Cisco!" Barry replied.

"Barry, you gotta come to this address, it's Hartley, he's burning up! He's in the top floor" Then he yelled the address.

It probably took less than 30 seconds, but to Cisco it felt like an eternity. Finally a familiar red woosh went by him and suddenly Barry was next to him. He had Hartley.

"Is he alive?" Cisco yelled again.

"Just barely. Do I take you with me?"

"No, drop me off outside and come back for me after you take him to the hospital", Cisco replied, still with a loud tone.

Barry nodded, and Cisco found himself outside, a good few hundred feet from the building.

A few minutes passed. Cisco feared that every second could cost Hartley his life.

Then Barry returned. "What did they say? The doctors, I mean", Cisco inquired.

"They said he's badly burned but they will try to save him. He's also breathed a lot of toxic fumes. Which by the way applies to you too", Barry remarked and grabbed him.

Cisco closed his eyes and found himself at the hospital. "This man was at the same fire that the previous man was", Barry told the clerk and a nurse pointed at Cisco, asking him to follow her, but when Cisco took a step, he fell on the floor. "Yeah, I think my leg is busted", Cisco said as he pushed himself up. Barry helped him up and the nurse brought him a wheelchair.

As he was being wheeled away, Cisco turned to Barry. "Will you keep me posted?"

"Absolutely."

Cisco was visited by Iris and Joe once and Barry twice before he was released from the hospital. The doctors gave him oxygen, but he was pretty okay for the most part. He got a cast, of course and crutches. But otherwise he was cleared to go a day after coming there, and even that was a precaution.

Hartley was another matter. He had reportedly woken up at some point, but because of the pain he experienced due to the burns, the doctors had put him in a medically induced coma for a while so the worst would go over while he was unconscious. The doctors promised it would only last for a week or so.

Cisco spent as much time by his bed as the hospital allowed him. He told him stories about his day. What he did, who he saw. Questioned him why he had chosen to be the one to be left behind. _I know you're trying to be better. But still. For you to choose me over yourself. Why? I'm not even sure I would do that if I were there. I should've insisted that you go first. Am I a worse person than you are? No. But why am I here and you're not? _I_ have feelings for you, it would make sense if our roles were reversed. For me to want to save you. So why am I here._

Cisco started crying. He soon felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked around to see Iris sit on the chair next to him. He closed his eyes and started crying against her, as she wrapped her arms around him. "I know", she sighed.


	11. Chapter 11

Hartley dreamt. Everything was blue and purple, there were weird shapes that all felt familiar somehow. He tried to reach the shapes but his arm was no longer his arm, it was an ellipse. All of his body was made up of different balls. They weren't even attached to each other. They just floated near one another. It was like he was a sketch in an artist's notebook. He closed his eyes. His eyelids were also ellipses, and they just floated in front of his eyes. Even so, he closed his eyes.

He heard a voice. "You need to talk to him."

It felt too harsh. Too loud.

"And what if there's nothing?"

Louder still. Yelling.

"But what if there is? And they just don't..."

Hartley tried opening his eyes. It felt as if his eyelids were nailed shut and opening them would result in him tearing his skin. He groaned.

He tried again. One of his eyes opened. The other one remained shut. He stared directly into the light. He closed the eye. He groaned again, a little louder this time.

"Get a doctor", he heard.

A moment later someone placed their hand on his forehead and attempted to open his eye, the one he hadn't managed to open before. Considering how violently it was pulled open, Hartley expected to feel pain, but felt none. He opened his other eye as well. He was staring into the light. He winced.

"Hartley, can you hear me?"

"Ummggh", Hartley answered. "Mmees", he tried again. "Yes". The light was taken away, and after seeing black for a little while, Hartley could finally see properly. An unknown doctor, Iris and Barry.

"What happened?" Hartley asked. "Who is this man?"

The old man cleaned his glasses and looked at him in an understanding way. "I'm doctor Shelby. You are in Central City hospital. We just took you out of a chemically induced coma. You were in the coma for a week. Do you remember what happened to you?"

Hartley's heart skipped a beat. He was in a hospital. He looked around him. "Where is Cisco?!" He yelled, tried to stand up but the doctor jumped to push him down on the bed. "What happened to him?"

Iris approached the bed. "Cisco is fine. He just went outside to get us some sodas. He should be back in a minute." She smiled reassuringly.

"Now, please answer the question. Do you remember what happened?" The doctor resumed his question.

Hartley tried to remember. Everything seemed a blur. "You were looking for the guy who set all those fires. You and Iris went to see the likeliest candidates. Cisco and I were to interview that professor. Who probably didn't know anything."

Barry seemed guilty. "Unfortunately we miscalculated. The professor trained the metahuman, and they together set those fires. The meta is in custody right now. As is the professor."

"Good." Hartley moved his right arm a little, and discovered that it was unharmed. At least there was that. But he didn't feel normal. In fact, half his body was in searing pain. "Doctor Shelby. What kind of damage did they fire do to me?"

"You breathed quite a bit of toxic fumes, so we gave you oxygen. You are quite fortunate that the Flash got there in time. The fire did, however, burn the skin on your left leg quite extensively. Not badly enough to stop your ability to walk, but there is extensive scar tissue on it. As well as on your left arm. Again, you probably won't be winning beauty pageants for the most clear skin, but as far as we can tell the arm and leg both still work, so you should see that as a blessing. Of course, if you are interested, there are cosmetic surgeries that can help, skin grafts and such."

Hartley nodded. "Thank you doctor."

"Well, I'll leave you to catch up with your friends. Though I suppose not much has happened to you per se", Shelby smiled and walked out of the room, revealing Cisco behind him.

"Cisco", Hartley breathed. His heart jumped with joy at the sight of him.

Cisco just stood there with his crutches. He bit his lip. One of his legs had a cast on it.

"Cisco", Hartley repeated, pleadingly.

Cisco looked down. Then he looked at Barry and Iris.

Iris got the hint. "Actually, I'm famished, aren't you Barry?"

Barry replied "Always, but he just woke up-"

Iris looked at him in a way that made him understand.

Barry rubbed his stomach. "Actually, I could eat a whole cow right now. We should go pick up some take away for you guys." He walked out of the room, followed by an insistent Iris.

Cisco nodded at the two as they passed him. His face was calm. Not serious, not happy. Just calm.

The door closed. Cisco limped closer to him with his crutches and finally sat on a chair next to him. He sighed. He set his crutches to rest against the machines and put his hand on the mattress.

Hartley reached out his right hand. He placed it near Cisco's hand, brushing the skin just barely.

"Hey", he whispered.

Cisco became uneasy. He looked away. His upper lip trembled.

"Cisquito", Hartley breathed.

Cisco collapsed and leaned forward. He wrapped his arms around Hartley's neck and started sobbing against him.

Hartley sighed and placed his right hand on the small of Cisco's back. He couldn't use his left arm to return the embrace due to the burns on it. But one arm seemed to suffice, as he felt the other man slowly calm down. Hartley noticed that Cisco had climbed on the bed to lay next to him. Despite his attempt to hide his satisfaction over the sudden closeness, he felt the corners of his lips curve upwards.

Still, he didn't want to feel like he was taking advantage of the other man, so he tapped him on the back to give Cisco an opportunity to detach himself from him, but discovered that the man had fallen asleep. Cisco's arm was on his chest. It was a great feeling. _You treat me like a man. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it_.

He covered him with his blanket and closed his eyes as well. He felt awfully tired all of a sudden, despite having been in a coma for a week. And since Cisco wasn't even awake to talk to him, there was little point to be awake.

He drifted back to sleep, hoping he would dream of the same thing as Cisco did.


	12. Chapter 12

Cisco would still need the crutches for the next 6-8 weeks, so he tried to take things slowly. It was a little difficult at first, because he was used to working on his feet, and moving as he explained things. Nevertheless, the cast on his leg forced him to slow down considerably from his usual routine.

Of course, there was one upside to his injury. As he needed help getting to Star Labs in the mornings and home after work, Hartley had begun driving him around on his car, which gave Cisco some much appreciated time to spend with the man. Sometimes Hartley wouldn't even drive him straight back to his apartment, but instead drove him to see Central City's finest view points. Cisco had lived in Central City for a long time but he now saw the city for the first time since childhood with fresh eyes, and some places he hadn't even seen before.

Today, for instance, Hartley took him to see this great cliff that oversaw the harbor. After stopping the car, Hartley helped him limp closer to the edge where there was a bench they could sit on. The man seemed quiet, as he had been ever since the incident that had landed them both in a hospital, but he did seem to thoroughly enjoy himself as he look into the distance where the sun was beginning to set.

"Does it hurt your ears? The sound of the waves down there?" Cisco asked, trying to get the man to talk.

"No. The ear buds you made for me work, so I can enjoy them for once without pain", Hartley replied, never taking his eyes off the view.

Cisco was silent for a while. He didn't know how to formulate his next comment.

"I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"You know. Saving my life. Making me go first. You almost died as a result", Cisco continued.

Hartley looked down. "It's not because I'm suddenly cured of my evil ways and I've stopped being selfish. It's really not."

Cisco listened, but didn't understand. "Then why? Why didn't you go first, if you're so selfish? Why didn't you save yourself?"

Cisco saw Hartley squirm a little. He looked like he was going to say something, but then rebuked himself for the idea. He then said something else than what he had originally planned, Cisco was sure of it. "Because this world is better with you in it. Me on the other hand… the world is worse for it, neutral at best. You deserve to make it out of a burning building. I do not."

Cisco started to disagree, but Hartley stopped him before he could say anything. "Cisco. Don't lie to me. You know yourself that between the two of us, your existence is more valuable. I am not saying this to belittle my own accomplishments, or the connections that I've made with people. I know that you, Iris, Joe, perhaps even Barry would be sad if I died. I value their friendship. But your value is greater. To Team Flash, to your friends, your family. It is a fact. I acted as I did because mathematically, your value is greater than my own. You don't need to apologize nor thank me for it. It is simply something that is."

Hartley was still staring off to the distance. He sounded so calm and analytical as he spoke, and it seemed as if he really believed every word he said. They weren't the words of someone with a low self esteem, but someone who had calculated long and hard their worth in the world and then compared scientifically with others'. Like a true scientist.

Cisco didn't argue. He had expected something different than this rather blunt assessment of their value in the world. He had wanted to make sense of the incident by imagining that the reason Hartley had acted the way he had was because he had feelings for Cisco. That all this had been some kind of romantic drama that had ultimately lead the both of them to confess their feelings for each other. But, based on what the man had just said, it seemed that that was not the case.

Cisco was used to getting rejected. By his family, by his friends, and especially by potential mates. He had hoped that this time would be the lucky charm. That Hartley would be the one to break the pattern. To love him back.

"Hey, whatta ya say if we head back? I kinda have stuff I need to work out at my place." Cisco picked up his crutches and got up to his feet. Hartley nodded and helped him to the car.

They drove back in silence. Cisco was trying to hold back tears. A rather difficult task, considering the drive back to his apartment was maybe half an hour long.

Hartley finally broke the silence when he helped Cisco from the car to his apartment. "Are we okay? I didn't mean to make you mad, I just didn't want you to feel bad about the whole thing."

"Sure. I mean, I'm still grateful, but sure, you did what you were mathematically compelled to do", Cisco stuttered, sounding a little more bitter than he had intended to sound like. He hoped that Hartley didn't notice his tone. "So, see you tomorrow morning. Long day at work, you know, lots of stuff to do." He closed to door, leaving a rather confused looking Hartley behind it.

It was a good thing he closed the door when he did, because it was at that very moment that he started crying. He waited until he heard Hartley's foot steps grow quieter, and only then did he sneeze, rather loudly. He didn't want to ruin their friendship with his typical unrequited crush. This was his problem, and his problem only. He just wished it didn't hurt so much.


	13. Chapter 13

Hartley met Iris at Jitters after work. Because to the team, Jitters was the only cafe in Central City. He sat on the chair opposite to her and greeted her. She smiled back, already drinking her 'Flash'.

"You and Cisco have been spending quite a bit of time together, I see", she pointed out, winking at him.

"Yes. Friends have a tendency to spend time together. They might enjoy it, even, God forbid", Hartley replied sarcastically.

"Yes they do. Just like we do now", Iris beamed, unaffected by his response.

"I know what you mean Iris, and you and I both know that we don't even know if Cisco swings my way, let alone whether he swings _my_ way."

"Is it impossible to just ask him if he does?"

"Without ruining our friendship or forever making things weird? Yes."

"After almost dying, I would think you'd be more interested in living life to the fullest. Taking chances. Or just the one chance."

"He feels bad because I almost died. I don't want to take advantage of his feelings of guilt." Hartley moped.

"So, you are not going to make a move on Cisco. Are you ready to move on to someone else?" Iris commanded, seeming like she had had an idea.

"No. But I could be ready to have some fun for a change. It's been a while since I went on a date", Hartley uttered, feeling a little embarrassed.

"In that case, how about we all go out tonight?" Iris asked him. "This notable rich bachelor is hosting a glorious evening at this hotel", she added. Hartley stared at her. "Glorious?"

"It's a costume party. All the big names of the city have been asked to join the party and the idea is for the single people to meet with Venetian masks on, and then retire to rooms provided by the rich guy. Of course, everybody's STI status is checked at the door, so this doesn't end up in a chlamydia outbreak", Iris finished, surprising Hartley.

"Wow, Iris, I had no idea you were into this stuff?" Hartley pretended to sound shocked, and Iris just shook her head. "Of course I won't participate, I'm with Barry now. But you and Cisco are both single, you could find someone at the party. I'm not suggesting that you go out and screw someone's brain out, I'm just saying that it could be fun to meet people there. The sex stuff is completely optional."

Hartley chuckled. "Well, I guess at the end of the day it's just a party like any other. It could be fun. Do we need to go shopping before or-?"

"The outfits and masks are all provided by the party. The guy who's running the party wanted everyone to have similar clothes."

"Why don't you just say his name?" Hartley observed.

"That's the reason I'm going to the party. My editor wants to find out who the guy is. Nobody knows, even though all the celebrities, including the Flash have been invited. It's a real mystery."

"Ah, I knew that it had to be something like that", Hartley laughed. "The girl scout Iris West would never venture into a party like that otherwise."

Iris started to protest, but then simply uttered "Maybe we'll all find something new about ourselves while we're there", and smiled.

Barry surprised Cisco by poking him in the arm. Cisco had spent maybe 20 minutes staring into nothingness, thinking about something other than the project he was supposed to be working on. Or rather, someone else.

"Oh hi, Barry. Did you need this for tonight? I can rush it, I've just been...distracted lately. But I can make it by six if you need it", Cisco promised.

"Nuh, that's okay. Did Iris tell you about the party?" Barry asked, looking very conspicuous.

"You mean the orgy?" Cisco queried. "It doesn't really seem like my kind of scene."

"You mean a party? You love parties", Barry teased. He then grew more serious. "You might even meet someone special there."

_I have someone special. He just...doesn't like me back_, Cisco thought. _He said so himself_.

"Look, Cisco, I know."

"Know what?"

"About this thing, between you and Hartley."

Cisco looked Barry intently for a while, then turned to look away. He stood up and circled around once to hid his face. "There is nothing going on between us." He then looked back to Barry, who didn't seem convinced.

"I'm not blind Cisco. Hartley may not be my favorite person in the world due to obvious reasons, but he has been a big help since he joined us and he did save your life. It wouldn't be strange for you to develop feelings for him. I wouldn't blame you. I'd - I _understand_." Barry's face didn't look very understanding, but Cisco knew he was doing his best for his sake.

"He told me he wasn't interested in me that way. So it doesn't matter how I feel." Cisco sat back down again, ready to resume his brooding.

"When did he tell you this? Was it maybe before you started spending most of your free time together?" Barry asked, looking like the smart ass Cisco knew him to be.

"Well, yeah, but..."

"Interesting", Barry interrupted him. He was teasing him, Cisco knew it.

"Stop. I'll come to the stupid party. Just stop hassling me about it."

"Great. Hartley's picking us up after work tomorrow evening." Barry grinned and walked away smiling.

Cisco sighed. Maybe the party would take his mind off things, and Hartley. Mostly Hartley.

They arrived early to the hotel, which was a good thing considering that a long line started forming right after they entered. They were escorted to separate changing rooms, which would all lead to the hall where the party was to mainly take place. Because there were so many people there and since the idea was to mostly mingle and meet new people, they agreed to go their separate ways and meet by the car at the end of the night. Cisco headed to the changing room and found a purple costume waiting for him. Despite the strangeness of the attire, he managed to put it on. The mask he was to wear had feathers on it, and it was colored with white and purple stones. As he put the mask on, he discovered that it only covered the top half of his face. He put his normal clothes on a bag that he then handed to one of the valets waiting outside the changing rooms, who then handed him a chip with a number on it.

The hall was huge. Even with the number of people already in it, there was still room for at least a few hundred more. And those few hundred were soon coming in, at least based on the crowd near the changing rooms. Cisco looked around to see if he could spot his friends, even though they had agreed to mingle alone, but there were too many people in the way. He shrugged, and started walking around the place.

Hartley had gotten a yellow suit, and his mask was black with yellow stones on it. Remarkably, the mask somehow worked with his glasses, so he didn't feel this crushing weight on top of them wearing it. His leg still hurt a little when he walked. He doubted that he would have much luck with dating, considering that his leg looked awful with the burn marks on it. But he figured he could try meeting some new people while he was at it. He had been to these types of parties before, back when he was still in his parents' good graces. Of course there hadn't been orgies, but the costume parties were a big hit among his rich friends, when he still had them.

Actually, now that he looked at the crowd more closely, he could even recognize some of his old friends. Of course, they didn't see him, but it was better that way. He had nothing against them, but he wasn't interested in hearing their condolences over his parents' treatment of him. It was over. He was over it. Almost. Someday.

He turned away, and noticed a familiar black wisp of hair. He approached the owner of the hair, and found his way next to him. It was definitely Cisco. He decided to joke around a little and said, with a very low voice: "Hi there, gorgeous."

Cisco's eyes flew wide open. He didn't know what to say. Hartley was next to him, his glasses being a dead giveaway, and he was pretty sure he was hitting on him. He clearly didn't know he was talking to Cisco. Should he tell him it was him? Before he could decide, Hartley asked, still using that weird low voice: "Are you single?"

Hartley was about to reveal the jest to Cisco and laugh when Cisco suddenly leaned in and whispered "For tonight, I am." He then winked at Hartley, and started walking towards the table where the keys for the rooms were. He grabbed one of the keys and started walking towards the room it was intended for.

Hartley was taken aback. Was this really Cisco? Or was there a metahuman out there, reducing people's inhibitions? Either way, he really should follow Cisco, and make sure he didn't hurt himself. He watched Cisco open the door and then go inside, urging him to follow along. He closed the door behind him.

Cisco felt sudden exhilaration. Maybe it would be nice, taking a break from being just him for a night and pretending to be someone else. Brooding had been so taxing. This could possibly be a way for him to have something other than dreams from Hartley. He felt a sudden twinge of guilt. Although it was wrong leading Hartley on like this. Hartley clearly thought he was someone else. "Wait."

"Cisco. Are you alright? Is it a metahuman?" Hartley inquired, and took off his mask, revealing his handsome face.

Cisco froze. He felt cold. He took off his mask as well. "Is what a metahuman?"

"That's making you act this way. Flirtatious and asking me to this room with you."

"You were the one who started it!" Cisco yelled. He wasn't mad, but it felt better to pretend he was so he wouldn't think about the fact that Hartley would believe that a metahuman had taken over his will over Cisco genuinely wanting him. That probably hurt him the most.

"It was a joke. I'm sorry, I thought you knew it was me", Hartley apologized, looking really sad.

"I _did_ know. These stupid masks cover less than Barry's stupid mask and we always know it's him don't we?" Yelling felt good. He wasn't really mad at Hartley so much as at himself and his inability to fall for someone who wanted him back.

"Then why did you flirt back?" Hartley asked, looking incredulous.

"Because I thought you didn't know it was me", Cisco shouted. "Because I didn't know that a metahuman mindcontrolling me into flirting with you was more believable to you than me just being into you!"

Hartley stared at him, dumbfounded. After shouting the last few words, Cisco looked like he was about to cry. Hartley was worried about him. He took a step toward him, but Cisco flinched and backed away. "Don't."

He walked to the bed and sat on the other side, facing away from Hartley.

"Okay. I'm not coming to touch you. I will just...sit on the other side of the bed, okay?" Hartley asked quietly. Cisco nodded, and emitted an inaudible sound. He took that to mean it was okay. So he sat on the other side, facing away from Cisco's back, his feet on the floor.

"I… I lied to you Cisco. I'm truly sorry. But I did."

"It's okay", Cisco sighed.

"No, I don't mean just now. I mean back when we were on the cliff."

"Oh?", Cisco uttered, sounding like he was expecting something worse to come out of his mouth any minute now.

"When I told you to go first, back when the building was on fire… it wasn't because you were worth more to the world, although I was being truthful when I said it was because I was selfish. It was because you are worth more to me. I needed you to live. Not because the world needs you, but because I do." Hartley breathed in and out a few times. This type of brutal honesty about his feelings was very new to him, and it was physically taxing as well. "I treasure you, Cisco. I want you. I love you."

Cisco was quiet for a long while. He was mentally rearranging several memories to see how they fit with the new information. He wasn't sure of the result, but it didn't matter. Not now. He uttered every syllable as if they were the most important words he had ever spoken. "I love you too."

Neither one spoke for a while. They both felt a warm sensation in their chest.

Suddenly Barry ran into the room in his Flash suit. "Cisco, Hartley! This was all a set up to rob the richest of the city. I disarmed the robbers, but the crowd is going wild with panic and we need to evacuate them."

He then realized that both of his friends were sitting on a bed, facing away from each other, and both looking kind of emotional. "Wait, why are you guys even here?"

They both stood up. "Were you two going to-? Wait, I don't want to know." He wooshed away, and then came back just as fast. "But like, could you help with the evacuation? There's like a lot of people there." Then he wooshed away again.

Cisco chuckled a little, then wiped a tear off his face. Hartley smiled too, and opened the door for Cisco. Cisco nodded to him, and when they were back in the hall, he held out his hand. Hartley reached out and took it, and they walked hand in hand to face the ongoing chaos.


	14. Chapter 14

Hartley and Cisco saw hundreds of people, all running in opposing directions and hitting each other on the way to wherever it was they were going. They let go of each others' hands and began trying to calm people down. Hartley grabbed a man who was trying to run over another man, and kept him at bay while Cisco made sure the one on the floor was doing okay. Suddenly Hartley felt like he had been hit with a battering ram. As he fell on the floor, he noticed from the corner of his eye that the cause of his fall was a large man that looked big enough to be a metahuman. Fortunately the giant didn't step on his head, but walked over him and started chasing the crowd while making a loud sound that sounded like a mix of growling and whistling. "Hart!" Cisco yelled, and started helping him up. Hartley got up, and for a moment he could only think about Cisco's hands around him. He glanced at Cisco's worried expression and, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, he leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "I'm alright", he assured him after he leaned back.

Cisco seemed surprised, but smiled. "Okay, we have to let Barry know we have a giant running amok." He touched his ear piece and relayed the message to Barry. He then looked at Hartley. "How are we going to get these people to calm down if we have a giant here?"

Hartley shrugged. "Well, technically we need to evacuate the building, and now that the giant showed up, everyone is trying to leave, so all we need to do is make sure people don't get trampled. By the giant, or other people."

Cisco shrugged too, and they decided to go in different directions in order to cover more ground. Hartley went to the left of the hall, and Cisco to the right.

Hartley met a huge number of people trying to flee, but they were stopped from doing so by a door that was apparently locked. The thieves had jammed the doors to the fire escape so the people they were trying to rob wouldn't leave. That didn't stop the crowd from pushing against the door. "Let me through!" Hartley found himself shouting. People turned around to look at him, and he was suddenly flustered. How was he going to help anyone? Then he noticed a coat stand next to him. He grabbed it, and motioned people to move out of the way. Then he closed his eyes, and ran to the door and pushed the stand against the door as hard as he could. He opened his eyes. The door seemed unharmed. The crowd seemed nervous. Hartley walked back to his starting point, closed his eyes again, and tried again. This time, the glass parts of the door finally gave in and he heard a loud crash as the glass split into small shards. He opened his eyes, and set the coat stand to his side, and reached through the door to open the door from the other side. Immediately after the door opened, people started running through, not caring much whether they pushed against him on their way. You're welcome, he thought. He figured the best way to avoid getting hurt was to go with the crowd, and not against it. So, he walked forward, and after finding himself on the other side of the door, he took a right and hid behind the open door. It took maybe two minutes, but finally all the people had managed to run through the door and into the fire escape. He turned around and went back in to find Cisco.

Cisco was staring at the metahuman infront of him. He thought he had managed to blend in with the crowd, but then all of them started running in one distinct direction, and he was perplexed over the reason why they all suddenly decided to run towards that one door, specifically. After the crowd dispersed, all that was left was him, and the metahuman clearly in charge of the raid.

"Barry!" He shouted, hoping that his friend was listening to his ear piece. He waited a moment, but no Flash.

The metahuman, whose skin was glowing red, took a few steps towards him. "Wait! I'm warning you. If you harm me, the Flash will come and save me, and you're in for a world of hurt."

The metahuman smiled. He walked up to him, and grabbed Cisco by the neck. He found it difficult to breath as the man began closing his grip around his neck. He gasped for air and tried to fight, to hurt the other man, to hit him, scratch his arms. It didn't help. He could feel himself losing consciousness.

Suddenly the grip loosened, and he fell on the floor, free to breath. He coughed and laid his own hand on his neck, fearing another attack. When he looked up, he saw Barry who had tied the meta's hands with rope, and came to check his condition. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Was that the last one?"

"There's one left. Are you going to be okay?"

Cisco's breathing was starting to calm down. "Sure. Go."

Barry hesitated. Then he saw something behind Cisco. "Take care of him. I have to go take out the other one." Then he wooshed away.

Cisco turned to see Hartley kneeling down next to him. Hartley reached out and laid his right hand behind his neck and caressed the red marks left by the meta strangling him. Hartley looked at him tentatively, seemingly wondering what to do next.

Cisco nodded, trying to indicate to Hartley that he was fine.

Hartley blinked, seeming to accept the gesture. He leaned in, then hesitated, but after Cisco leaned in as well, he planted a lingering kiss on one of the red marks on his neck. He suddenly felt shy.

After Hartley leaned back, he shifted his position and sat down, and laid his left arm under his back, so he was in Hartley's arms, leaning back and looking up at Hartley.

Hartley reached out again, and trailed the red marks on his neck with his mouth, planting more kisses on his skin as he closed his eyes and stretched his neck further up, to expose his neck and make it easier for Hartley to kiss it. He felt such joy, such a feeling of being loved that he hadn't felt in a long time, perhaps never.

He noted that Hartley was starting to plant kisses on his jaw, on his cheek, and was nearing his mouth. He placed his hand on Hartley's cheek, and so when Hartley shyly reached his lips, he leaned in and pulled Hartley further in. Hartley gently bit his lower lip, and then tilted his head so he could kiss him wholeheartedly, and Cisco returned the gesture most enthusiastically.

He felt the floor under him as Hartley laid him down on it and then hovered over him, never breaking the kiss.

He wrapped his arms around Hartley's neck and enjoyed the kisses he planted on him.

Suddenly they heard a voice.

"Cisco? We need you at the entrance. Is Hartley there? Come over here", Joe demanded in the ear piece.

Cisco and Hartley's lips parted, and looked at each other awkwardly. "Yeah, Joe, we're on our way", Cisco replied, blushing a little. Hartley's head was leaning against his head, and Cisco felt rather than heard his chuckle.

Hartley got up and reached out his arm to pull Cisco up. They smiled at each other and started running towards the entrance where their friends were waiting for them.


End file.
